


Yuuri Katsuki, PA

by MidnightTrash



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anxiety, Awkwardness, Business AU, CEO Victor Nikiforov, F/F, Fluff, Interns & Internships, Jealous Victor Nikiforov, M/M, Phichit loves his phone more than life, Smut, Some angst, VictUuri, Yuri runs off anger, Yuuri doesn't know how he got here, Yuuri is trying he really is, figure skating, personal assistant, please save him, strip club
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-09-08 22:19:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 34,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8865520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightTrash/pseuds/MidnightTrash
Summary: 23-year-old Yuuri Katsuki doesn't know how he got here. One moment he's applying for an internship, the next he is a personal assistant to CEO and President Victor Nikiforov. He always wanted to break free from the comfort of home, but he always lacked the means to get there. Enter Victor who opens up the opportunity of a lifetime.And for Victor, Yuuri shows him a part of life he never knew existed since he neglected it for years.





	1. The Interview

**Author's Note:**

> This is a business and personal assistant AU that nobody asked for, but I felt like writing anyway. Enjoy!

Intimidation.

That’s what Yuuri felt as he gazed up at the skyscraper as snow danced and fell on his cheeks. His cheeks were tinged pink from the cold air and he adjusted the cuffs of his suit before he followed the group of other students into the corporation building. He, along with the others, brushed off the snow that layered their suits and Yuuri was quick to catch up with his friends. Phichit looped his arm through his as he pulled him forward while showing him the selfies he took in front of the building.

“I can’t believe we are some of the finalists for the internship at _the_ Nikiforov Corp.!” Phichit said with amazement as he took pictures of everything he could see.

Yuuri hummed as he felt the nervous twist in his stomach. He, along with 3 other male students, had been accepted for an internship at the Nikiforov Corporation which sold figure skating attire, skates, equipment, and other accessories at the highest quality. The internship opportunity was the most prestigious in the entire world and to have an internship at Nikiforov Corp could guarantee anyone a job at another company or a possible job offering at the end of it. He was the selected student from Japan, Phichit was Thailand’s, Guang-Hong was China’s, and Leo was America’s.

A Japanese looking man in a well-tailored suit with neatly spiked up hair by the name of Hisashi Morooka lead the group of 4 young men to the elevator as he spoke to them in English. Yuuri observed Leo and Guang-Hong in their own separate conversations. Leo was smiling gently and Guang-Hong appeared to be slightly nervous as he fiddled with his pink tie, but he had a smile on his face as well. Phichit was gazing at the modern architecture of the building and fidgeted with his hands since he was unable to take pictures as he was instructed not to past a certain point.

It was explained by the supervisor that the decided intern to remain there would be given a position based on their abilities and skills. Their ears popped as they reached a floor well above 50 stories where workers were walking around with files of papers, and despite the clutter, everyone seemed to be relatively enjoying their job.

On the right side of the floor, they were shown the conference rooms the size of small apartments in floor space where the biggest deals were held as this is where they performed which items would be put on the market. On the left side of the floor was where modeling was held for the costumes. Yuuri noticed Phichit practically drooling at the cameras which were the best money could buy and Leo and Guang-Hong appeared interested in the process of it.

Yuuri gazed out of the windows that showed practically the entire world. The Nikiforov Corporation Tower was the tallest building in Russia located in the city of Pobeda. The snow still fluttered outside and everything was covered in white. Traffic filled the streets and the people walking to their destination appeared like ants on the ground below.

After being led back to the elevators, supervisor Hisashi pressed the button at the very top. As soon as the button was pressed, everything grew silent. Leo’s and Guang-Hong’s conversations muted and Phichit twitched nervously. Yuuri gazed at his feet and when the elevator dinged open, Hisashi spoke with enthusiasm and Yuuri was sure he heard Guang-Hong gasp.

“Gentlemen, I’d like you to meet the President and CEO of Nikiforov Corporation: Victor Nikiforov!”

The rich brown leather chair behind a desk suited for a king turned as soon as Hisashi finished speaking. The man had short silver white hair with bangs that draped over the left side of his face with a few strands curtaining his left eye. His eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue Yuuri had ever seen. His skin was pale and he had on a very expensive looking suit with a black suit jacket and tie and form fitting white button up shirt underneath. His hands clad with black leather gloves were interlocked under his chin and he lips twitched upwards curiously at the group of students.

Yuuri didn’t realize he hadn’t moved yet until Phichit tugged at his arm rather forcefully which caused the young Japanese man to stumble forward ahead of the group and nearly land on the desk which held the man whom he admired all of these years. With a squeak, he skittered backwards to be a part of the line of the other students.

He noticed Victor’s gorgeous blue eyes were trained on him in an expression he could not decipher. Yuuri felt his cheeks flush and his attention went towards the brown poodle sleeping in the corner of the room on a bed probably more expensive than Yuuri’s own. Soon all but Leo were ushered into a small unused office connected to the CEO’s and they were told to wait there while they had their interviews separately.

Phichit was trying to comfort Guang-Hong who kept expressing his concerns for Leo. Their voices soon faded away however as he stared down at his tapping feet. His gut twisted and his nerves were shot as he found his chest tightening. His vision wobbled and what he saw became distorted. His thoughts ran rampant in his mind.

If he didn’t get this internship, it’d be all over. This was the only break he had from working or living anywhere other than his family’s Hot Spring Resort for the rest of his life. His sister may seem content with keeping the family tradition going, but he wanted to win; he didn’t want to be in a place where he had no chance to.

“Yuuri Katsuki.”

Yuuri jumped at the call of his name and he glanced around and found everyone else standing around with their ties a little loose and a nervous smile on their faces with the expression of “I’m glad I got that over with”. Now it was his turn and he got up stiffly and walked towards the door that would either be marked Heaven or Hell depending on how well his interview went. On his way out, he caught Phichit telling everyone he ended up getting a selfie with Victor. Yuuri smiled a little. _Maybe this won’t be so bad,_ he thought.

All that positive thinking was throwing out of the window as soon as he saw Victor’s expression.

The CEO’s expression was a neutral mask and he had Yuuri’s files in front of him laid out on the desk. Blue eyes trailed from the papers to young man now entering the room and he gestured Yuuri to take a seat in front of him. Nervously he sat and a black gloved hand picked up the documents to read from.

“Yuuri Katsuki. Born in Hasetsu within Japan. Age 23.” Victor spoke in English with his Russian accent evident as he talked while his eyes remained fixed on the paper as his rich voice filled the air.

“You’ve worked for your family’s business, attended a renowned college in Japan, and you now have been accepted for a possible internship position at my corporation. You wrote here in a lengthy essay how you would like to broaden your horizons beyond your home and this is what qualified you.”

“Ah, yes,” Yuuri confirmed lamely as he twiddled with his hands as his knee bounced under the table. He prepared himself for an onslaught of questions like he received prior to arriving here.

However, what Victor did had rendered him speechless.

The CEO tossed the papers into the bin under his desk with a careless shrug. He sent Yuuri a gentle smile which eased his fears for a second, but still left him genuinely confused.

“Tell me Yuuri, what are your hobbies?”

The question in the carefree way it was spoken seemed so out of place, “I’m sorry?”

“What is it that you did as a child? What do you do to pass the time? Those kinds of hobbies.”

The black haired young man floundered as he politely spoke, “With all due respect Mr. Nikiforov, how does this relate to my interview?”

Victor laughed with a sound that sounded like chimes. Yuuri furrowed his brows as he tried to figure out the enigma that was this man and his idol in front of him. The articles captured his tenacity in business, but now Yuuri began to wonder how much of it was true. The fair-haired man spoke lightly after he finished laughing at Yuuri’s question.

“So many people can do the same thing. I want to know what makes you stand apart from others. Reading a report based on someone’s life only to help get themselves hired is boring. Understanding what can help my company through the strengths of the person in question is what helps us move forward. If it sets you apart, it doesn’t outcast you. Rather, it helps you get somewhere here. Now I’ll ask again, what is it you like to do?”

Yuuri sat in thought as he scratched the back of his head. It didn’t take much thought, but he still hesitated to express his hobby. He doubted it would be received negatively given the company at which he was currently in, but he also didn’t want to make it seem like he was saying this only to give him points for the position. He spoke softly as soon as he opened his mouth and the words tumbled out of his lips.

“Figure skating...”

He briefly caught the slight raise of eyebrows and this seemed to peak his interest as he leaned forward with his chin on the heel on his hand, “Oh, really? When did you begin to skate?”

“When I was about 6 years old my friend Yuko’s family had an ice skating rink.” He smiled at the nostalgic memory that came to the front of his mind of when he was small and he and Yuko practiced late into the night until her parents made them stop. Of course, there was Nishigori, but when his teasing came into mind, he immediately stopped thinking about it.

When he came back into focus, he noticed Victor had retrieved some of the papers from the bin and his eyes were scanning it as if he missed something. With another careless expression, he flicked them off behind him.

“Interesting how you didn’t include this on your resume.”

“I didn’t think it was important.”

Again, Victor laughed at him, “You didn’t think it was important to include an interest and experience in figure skating for a position at a figure skating attire and equipment distribution company?”

“I didn’t want to make it seem like I was kissing up to get this position,” He mumbled.

“But the rest of your friends did. What if they got the position instead of you because they had included the fact they like figure skating?”

“Then one of them got the position and I would have to go back to Hasetsu,” There was a slight bittersweet tone in his voice. It’d be nice to see his family, but again he didn’t want to spend his entire life in one place. He tried his best to hide it, but the tilt of the CEO’s head indicated he caught it.

“Now, what if you got the position? How you feel if you got to stay, but the rest of your friends had to go back home?”

Yuuri had hesitated with nearly every question, but with this one, he didn’t hesitate a moment, “I’d be really happy if I got the internship, but I also wish for my friends to succeed.”

Victor stared at him for a long time. He leaned back in his chair with a soft smile on his face as he observed Yuuri with his hands clasped over his abdomen. Yuuri felt a flush in his cheeks as his eyes flickered around the room and soon landed on the brown poodle- Makkachin he remembered from an article- walked up to him briefly before turning away to his owner. Blue eyes flickered from the poodle to Yuuri before gestured his hand for the door.

“That is all, thank you.”

Yuuri practically ran out of the room and he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as he shut the door -Hell’s door he dubbed it. What type of interview was that he thought. All his interviews leading up to this particular interview had been formal and filled with questions about himself like the government would ask. He listened in on what the others were discussing as soon as he entered and was confused to find some similarities to his interview, but for the most part, it had more formal questions.

That last thought did not ease his nervousness in the slightest. That was not a good sign.

A little after, Hisashi advised them to stay put until the result was announced. Phichit handed him a coffee and he loosened the light blue tie from around his neck slightly so he could breathe properly. A few moments later, Hisashi came back in and clapped his hands together.

“President Nikiforov has told me that he has extended his internship to 3 of the 4 individuals,” Yuuri could feel his heartbeat in his chest like it wanted to escape.

“Phichit Chulanont, you have been chosen for an internship in the photography branch,” The boy in question jumped excitedly in his place and the supervisor continued.

“Leo de la Iglesia and Guang-Hong Ji, you both are going to be placed in an internship within modeling and its process of meeting with celebrities to perform the tasks needed.”

As Leo and Guang-Hong smiled at each other broadly, Yuuri felt his heart drop. Great, he already had the flight back to Japan pictured in his mind. Kids kicking at the back of his seat as he tried to sleep. His ears constantly popping from pressure change. The questionable airline food. The way-

“Yuuri Katsuki, you have bypassed the internship. As of tomorrow, you will be President Viktor Nikiforov’s personal assistant. All of you report back here at 8 am tomorrow to begin. Do not be late.”

There was a collective silence in the room and the other 3 young men turned their attention towards the black haired young man in question. There was a shocked expression on their faces mixed with congratulations.

Yuuri didn’t even register the coffee cup in his hand crash to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if I am going to continue this or not, but it all depends on you guys! (:


	2. First Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as of now, I have decided to continue the story.  
> I honestly can not express the shock I am in at the positive response I have received from just the first chapter. Like honestly I nearly panicked because now I hope I can live up to everyone's expectations.  
> Thank you everyone for the response so I gift you with this chapter (:
> 
> Important note: Leo, Guang-Huang, and Minami have been aged up to 21 years old.

The knocking on this door did not register in his head until he thought he heard a crack in the door frame. Yuuri blearily stood and made his way around the collection of suitcases he had neglected to unpack as he sloppily put his glasses on his face. His long sleeve shirt hung loosely and his grey sweatpants were slightly worn as he made his way to the door tiredly. His brows furrowed at the persistence of the person knocking at his door.

Moving into the apartment had a been a chore yesterday that left him exhausted as he had finalized the deal with the landowner since he received the titled of personal assistant yesterday. He tilted his head in thought as he gripped the door knob. Speaking of which, he wondered what exactly the time was.

As soon as he opened the door, Phichit, Leo, and Guang-Huang nearly crashed into Yuuri. Deep chestnut brown eyes observed the 3 men dressed professionally. Phichit sported light brown pants that matched his skin tone rather well with a white dress shirt and a dark red tie. Leo and Guang-Huang wore suits similar to Yin and Yang. Leo had a black dress shirt and pants on with a white tie and Guang-Huang had a white dress shirt and black pants with a black tie. They could lose the suit jackets as their internship did not require the all-out professionalism however they did still have coats to protect themselves from the chill air.

Their knuckles were red and it seemed the three of them were making an effort to get Yuuri to the door and they must’ve been at it for a while as Yuuri noticed a few other neighbors down the hall go back into their rooms while grumbling something in Russian. Phichit shook him by the shoulders.

“What are you doing? We’ve been knocking since the sun practically came up and you still haven’t gotten your butt out of bed! Do you even know what time it is?” The photographer exclaimed as he checked his watch, “It’s 7:43, we’ve got to go or we will all be late!”

Under most circumstances, he is average when it comes to speed, but at this moment Yuuri thought he just broke a new record.

Yuuri turned on his heel and dashed around the corner of the apartment to his bedroom. He shouldered the door frame but ignored the pain as he dashed for his closet. Some unintelligible phrases passed his lips in English and in Japanese as he rummaged desperately through his closet. He only had a few suits available to him and one tie so that light blue tie and his worn black suit was going to have to work for the time being.

He buttoned up his shirt at the speed of light, tossed on his suit jacket that was slightly too big for him as he had lost a little bit of weight, and buttoned his pants while looping a belt messily through the loops. Yuuri hopped as he put on socks he wasn’t even sure was matching and he scrambled to put on his shoes. In the process, he knocked over the small lamp table as he ran out the door calling for his friends behind him.

Phichit drove the car that held Leo up front in the passenger seat as Guang-Hong fixed Yuuri’s bed hair to look more presentable. In the process, Yuuri clumsily tied his necktie and tucked in his shirt. As the men arrived 5 minutes before 8, they were directed where their parking spot was in the massive parking garage. Luckily it was floor level and the 4 of them raced out of the parking garage and towards the building.

They checked in with security since they had not received their badges that would check them in as soon as they scanned it. The four men ran towards the elevator and jumped in before it closed. They were crowded in the corner and Leo hit the 52nd-floor button, Phichit eagerly hit the 54th floor while speaking to an Italian man with long brunet hair in a ponytail, and Yuuri pressed the very top floor, the 85th floor to be precise.

As soon as he pressed that button, he felt eyes on his back from the other workers or clientele in the elevator. Yuuri squirmed underneath the gazes because everyone knew that floor was strictly reserved for the CEO and only those with a strict appointment or high job title was allowed in there. Most people who were hired would have a high chance of not meeting their higher up as they were hired through someone less.

The elevator was rather silent despite a few people making calls here and there. Yuuri could hear Phichit’s voice here and there at times speaking to the same Italian man- Celestino Yuuri heard- since he entered the elevator. Leo and Guang-Hong left when their floor arrived deep in excited conversation as they eagerly walked off the elevator. Phichit exited the elevator with a spring in his step. Soon after, Yuuri was left alone as the elevator brought him up to the very reserved top floor.

To his surprise, the office was empty. Victor was nowhere to be seen and his poodle was not present either. The office was dimly lit and despite his squinting, he could not find the light switches. He took a few small steps forward before the lights flashed on violently that caused him to jump like he was just caught in a burglary.

 _Oh, they’re sensory activated lights,_ Yuuri realized.

Compared to yesterday, he now could take a good look at the CEO’s office without panic. The floors were a polished marble and the furniture was a rich brown the same color as Makkachin. There was a long curved couch to the right facing the massive window, which took up an entire wall, that framed the entire city. There was a glass table in front of it that held a vase of blue crocus flowers. Behind the curved desk was a wide case with various shelves that held various awards, recognitions, expensive trinkets, as well as a few photos of a certain CEO and his brown poodle. There was also a case of alcohol in the left corner with various glassware. In the right corner was a bed for Makkachin.

Yuuri glanced around once more and his eyes fell on Hell’s door that now had been branded with _Yuuri Katsuki, PA_. The door was unlocked and the relatively bare office had been renovated with a solid oak executive desk in the middle of the floor. There was a laptop placed in the middle and to the side of it was a telephone that looked like something he had never seen. It was wider than any other telephone and it contained thousands of buttons beside the normal keypad.

The coffee machine was on the desk behind his and his eyes jumped back over to the corner of the room and found the mess he had made yesterday had been cleaned and was no longer there. There was a printer behind his desk as well as two chairs in front of his desk much like Victor’s, but besides that, the room was relatively bare.

He jumped when his phone rang and he scrambled to pick it up. Brown eyes read the flashing ID as Morooka, Hisashi.

“Hello, Mr. Morooka?”

“Katsuki! I have already checked up on the others and they seem to be adjusting well, do you have any questions before you get started with your day?”

Yuuri nervously rubbed the back of his neck, “When does Mr. Nikiforov usually arrive? He wasn’t here when I arrived.”

There was a brief hum before a careless response, “Mr. Nikiforov usually arrives on his own time whenever he feels like it. He is the boss, after all, he makes his own schedule. Your job is just to be here before him and work with that schedule.”

“Ah, yes I see, I’m sorry I should’ve known.”

“Is that all?”

 _Truthfully? No._ He thought, however, he didn’t want to make it seem like he had no idea what he was doing, “I think I can manage.”

The supervisor and personal assistant said their goodbyes before Yuuri was left on his own. He figured out how to work the laptop and formats that were set on his computer for the office. An hour had passed before he heard the elevator through his open door. Yuuri could hear the scurrying of footsteps from an animal and a pair of shoes make their way across the marble. He straightened his suit and tie before exiting his office to greet his boss.

Yuuri was about to open his mouth before Makkachin darted in his direction with a deep bark as he leapt at the assistant. His paws pressed square on his chest and the unprepared young man yelped as he fell on his back. Makkachin licked his face and neck and Yuuri protested through a few smiles. Chestnut brown eyes landed on gorgeous sky blue that twinkled with amusement.

Makkachin was soon called back and Yuuri stood and brushed himself yet again. The CEO said nothing as he still appeared relatively amused. His charcoal suit was spick and span as he placed one hand in his pant pocket.

“Would you like anything? Coffee maybe?”

Victor seemed to grow even more amused as his lips twitched upwards and his eyes lit up even more. His eyes shot towards his free hand which held a coffee cup.

Even with his glasses on, he is apparently blind, he thought. He flushed red from embarrassment.

A serious look then seemed to cross his face as Victor placed his coffee cup down on his desk before striding towards Yuuri. The younger of the two found himself locked in place the other stopped inches in from of him before he slowly began circling him.

“Do you own any other suits?” Victor’s smooth voice asked as he examined the other.

Yuuri nearly choked on his own voice, “Um, no, I just moved into my new apartment…”

There was a hum that rumbled low in Victor’s throat, “This won’t do. This tie is hideous and the suit is too worn and not very well fitting.”

Yuuri felt like he could hardly breathe. He could feel the heat radiating off his face while the other was too close in his personal space. Makkachin sat beside the pair as the interaction went on. The assistant could smell the cologne on the other that waft in the air. In a matter of moments, the CEO stepped away and reached into his pocket for his wallet before removing one of his business cards.

“Take this and go down to the front of the building where a driver will be waiting and tell them to take you to the suit shop 3 blocks from here on the corner. Go to the front desk and ask for Chris. Tell them Victor Nikiforov sent you.”

“But, sir-“ Yuuri wanted to protest, but Victor interrupted him.

“You’re going to refuse a request from your boss? If you want to be my personal assistant, you must look the part,” He spoke lightly.

That was the end of the argument.

* * *

 

Yuuri made his way out into the frigid air that nipped at his nose. The Nikiforov Tower seemed to lean over him as he gazed up at it and still felt the same intimidation. A young voice then called to him and his eyes trained upon a young man that seemed to be 21 years old. He was small, a little over the 5-foot mark, and slender. His hair was blonde with a red tuft in bangs. His eyes were brown and he had a yellow vest with a red tie, black shirt, and black pants.

“Hi, I’m Minami and I am going to be your driver.”

Yuuri smiled at the excitable young man. His door was opened for him and he slid onto one of the black leather seats in the equally black luxury car. The heater felt nice against his chilled skin and he could felt the joints beginning to lose their stiffness.

“So where would you like to go?”

“The suit shop 3 blocks down on the corner please.”

Minami started the car with a nod and upbeat swing music filled the car. Minami skillfully maneuvered the car through traffic and within 8 minutes, they had arrived at a bright suit shop with cursive lettering that said “ _Eros_ ”. Suits on mannequins could be seen on both floors of the establishment. Yuuri stepped out of the car as soon as Minami opened the door.

“I’ll be here to drive you back when you are finished.”

Yuuri glanced back at the store before turning his attention back to the young driver, “Would you like to come with me?”

Minami seemed to be generally shocked before the widest smile crossed his face, “Sure!”

The pair entered _Eros_ through glass doors in the well-lit show floor. Directly across from the door was a reception desk where a woman with glasses was writing something on a notepad that soon was transferred to a computer in front of her. She hardly paid attention to the pair until Minami helped by clearing his throat.

“Can I help you two?” She drawled out, but she seemed to be addressing Minami more than Yuuri.

“I’m here to see Chris?” Yuuri said, but the receptionist shot him a look of _is that a statement or a question_?

“You?” She said as glanced Yuuri up and down and he shrunk under her judgmental stare. Apparently, she had the same thought as Victor and he appeared worse than he thought.

“Yes, Mr. Nikiforov sent me.” Yuuri handed her the card Victor had given him.

The mention of the CEO had the woman jump before she nodded her head and grabbed her desk phone. She called for a man named Christophe Giacometti and then directed them over to a dressing area in the back of the store with a raised platform in front of 3 mirrors. Both Yuuri and Minami were in awe at all the expensive suits that could’ve paid for their college tuitions ten times over.

“You must be Yuuri Katsuki, Victor’s new personal assistant.” A masculine voice rang in the air and they turned to see a man wearing a rather flashy suit approaching them.

Chris was taller than both of them and his entire aurora screamed sensual like the music that was playing in the store. His suit was flashy and attention drawing and his hair was two toned with the longer hair on top being blonde and the undercut brown. His eyes were feminine with long eyelashes and they were a warm hazel color. Lining his mouth and strong jaw was a small beard.

“You can take a seat on the couch,” he instructed Minami, “You, remove all of your clothes except your underwear so we can begin with the fitting.”

“ _What?_ ” Yuuri couldn’t believe his ears as he adjusted his glasses.

“Remove all your clothes except your underwear so I can get the right measurements for a proper fitting suit. If I sent you back to Victor with ill-fitting suits, he would send you right back.”

With a sigh of defeat, Yuuri stripped down to his black boxers uncomfortably as he tried his best to resist the urge of covering himself up. Minami was flushed red as he adverted his eyes politely until he grew accustomed. Chris had a victory smile as he measured different parts of Yuuri before he pranced off into a section of the store to grab a few suits.

“So, Yuuri, what’s it like to work with _the_ Victor Nikiforov?”

Yuuri simply shrugged a bit, “I can’t really tell you. He has been an idol of mine since I was young, but I haven’t really been working long enough. I was only working for an hour before he arrived and sent me to get new suits because he thought mine were hideous.”

Regardless, Minami still seemed to be amazed, “Wow, you actually got to speak with him? I’ve only seen him once or twice because my parents are his doctors, but I’ve never spoken to him. I owe him a lot though as he gave me this job to pay for my college tuition.”

Ah, now it made sense to Yuuri why the young male was working as a driver for Nikiforov Corp. Before he could ask more questions, Chris came back with 5 suits in hand and hung them up on the rack. The first suit he was handed was a grey Italian suit. His dress shirt was snow white it was a slim fit on his rather slender torso. The pants were just as well fitting that he noticed hugged his behind. He tied on the night black tie he was given that matched the black leather shoes. He then finished placing on the belt and buttoned the jacket.

“All right, have a look,” Chris said as he motioned with his hand.

The man he saw in the mirror was unrecognizable. He felt outclassed by his own reflection to be fairly honest with himself. The suit clung to him tightly and made him appear slimmer than he previously was in the other suit. The darkness of his hair matched his tie and went well with the dark colors of the suit. Instead of looking like an assistant, he could pass for a higher up. Maybe not Victor’s level, but close.

The grey suit was the only suit that did not need to be tailored. Yuuri soon recognized the gift Chris had in fashion as surprisingly, he had liked all of the suits picked for him. Chris then brought them to the register and informing them that his suits that needed to be tailored would be sent to his home.

“I suggest changing into the grey one since it’s ready to wear. I’ll dispose of your other clothes.”

With a little more convincing, Yuuri had switched back into the Italian suit. He walked back out while adjusting the cuffs and stood beside Minami. The young driver informed him that there was no receipt to be collected as it was already electronically sent to Victor. This was probably for the best as if Yuuri had seen the price he probably would’ve fainted or rejected the suits or both.

Most likely both.

* * *

 

Soon the pair arrived back at the Nikiforov Tower. Yuuri had said his good byes to Minami and as he was on his way back to the front doors of the building, he felt a hand grab his elbow. The blond young man had his head bowed slightly with an honest expression on his face as he spoke.

“Thank you for allowing me to join you. I’m usually always stuck waiting in the car, but this is the first time I have been asked to join someone before.”

Yuuri held a soft expression on his face, “Of course.”

“Anytime you need me to drive you, just call me,” Minami promised as he handed him a card with his information on it.

The black haired young man placed it in his pocket with a nod of his head. He pushed his way through the doors with a little bit more confidence because of the suit he was wearing. He entered the elevator and pressed the top button again, however, he was still not use to the stares he felt on his back. The ride this time seemed to go by rather quickly as he took a brief moment to scroll through his newsfeed.

When his new dress shoes stepped onto the polished marble, the CEO was behind his desk taking notes from a pile of files on his desk. The assistant stopped at the foot of his desk and as he did, he captured the attention of the CEO. Sky blue eyes met chestnut brown before they widened slightly. Those blue eyes trailed down his entire figure.

Victor stood and placed himself inches from his assistant. Yuuri was once again rigid and he clenched his fists to stop the slight trembling from the heavy gaze. Victor reached a gloved hand out to grip the tie and he tugged it slightly in his direction. Chestnut brown eyes grew owlish as he felt like his heart was going to burst from his chest.

“This will do nicely,” Victor approved as he twiddled the tie in his hand before dropping it and walking away after flashing him a dazzling smile.

Yuuri nearly choked on his own breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of Chapter 2 I hope you liked it!  
> Chapters will be updated as soon as I finish them!
> 
> -Midnight Trash (:


	3. Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'd like to say thank you to everyone out there who has left kudos, comments, and those who even clicked to read this story. Everyone is so encouraging and nice and I can not thank you enough! I try to reply to everyone's comments and if I miss yours, I am really sorry :( 
> 
> Since in a couple of hours it will 12 am in St.Petersburg, Russia, and I can not post it when I would like, here's a chapter to celebrate Viktor's birthday! His honestly in a gift to mankind that saved 2016.

Unlike the last time, his alarm woke him from his slumber. Yuuri found himself able to enjoy a simple breakfast of toaster waffles before he dressed in one of his new navy blue suits. He combed his hair down before he exited the apartment to meet with his friends at the car they shared.

Leo and Guang-Hong discussed how they were already able to meet various celebrities and famous figure skaters. Phichit explained how Celestino, his boss, was thoroughly impressed with his work so far and that his position was secured. When it was Yuuri’s turn to explain how his job was going that he was actually getting paid for, he didn’t know what to say.

What exactly could he say?

The most he interacted with his boss was interesting… to say the least. Makkachin had knocked him to the ground and then he was questioned on his fashion sense before being sent off to get new suits at his CEO’s expense. Yuuri also couldn’t forget how the other had also given him a rather odd sense of approval.

“Nothing worth mentioning happened,” He said simply as he played with his phone that had a blue case with little poodles over it.

Yuuri waved to Minami who he saw speaking with other drivers in a section off to the side before entering the elevator. Again, he pressed the button at the very top and waited for the time to come where he was by himself before the elevator opened.

To his surprise, the lights were already on. He grew nervous that he was somehow late since his boss was already there, but when he heard rattling and rummaging, his nervousness went from being late to wondering who exactly was there. The assistant jumped when he saw a slim hooded figure rummaging and shoving items to the floor from the shelves.

Yuuri grabbed the nearest object he could find, which happened to be a heavy sculpture of a poodle found on a small table near the coat rack by the elevator. He slowly crept towards the hooded figure still making an absolute mess of Victor’s office.

What exactly is someone supposed to do in this situation? He was never taught how to deal with burglars. It wasn’t part of his job description! 

Yuuri cleared his throat as he forced the words to exit his lips, “E-Excuse me, I’m going to request you to leave.”

The black hooded figure paused before the person slowly turned. A pale face soon came into view with a curtain of light blond hair covering all but one venomous green eye. The stranger appeared relatively 16 years old and his mouth was twisted into a frown. Seeing that the stranger was so young, Yuuri eased his guard.

That was the biggest mistake on his part.

A red leopard print shoe kicked the statue out of his hand before the boy round house kicked Yuuri to the floor. The black-haired assistant was about to sit up breathless before the bottom of the shoe pressed against his face and knocked him back to the ground. The young boy stomped his foot on Yuuri’s chest and he coughed with a yelp.

“Oi, where’s Victor? Who the hell are you?” The boy spoke in Russian first before he rephrased it in English.

The elevator dinged open and a smooth voice filled the room, “Ah, Yuri, I see you’re making friends. Although next time I suggest starting with a handshake.”

Both of them raised their head up towards the CEO that hung his coat before making his way over to the pair. Yuri removed his foot from the assistant on the ground before sauntering over to Victor. Victor paid little attention to the teenager and instead assessed the mess in that was now in his office.

“I also see you felt like redecorating my office.”

The younger Russian huffed, “I was looking for a paper Yakov sent me to get from you, but of course you’re never here on time. It’s something to do with that meeting today.”

“Ah, the one he left in my office in regards to the distribution company from the Czech Republic,” Victor stated as he went to a certain cabinet and retrieved the paper in no time, “Yuri, next time you need something from here, ask Yuuri. He is my new PA.”

The person in question was busy checking the back of his head to see if he was bleeding as he looked up. Makkachin gave him a once over before sitting beside him. He stood up and adjusted his glasses while waving to Yuri. The blond simply sneered at him.

Victor tapped his chin for a moment as he glanced between the two, “Well we can’t have Yuuri and Yuri that would be confusing, so as of today, you will be Yurio!”

He pointed to the young blond who had an expression of someone who wants to destroy everything dear to the victim as he shoved his hands in the hoodie pockets. Yurio’s mouth was pulled into a snarl as he went to snatch the paper out of Victor’s hands before sauntering off like a pissed off tiger.

“Yuuri, could you do me a favor and clean this up before you begin working?” The personal assistant jumped before nodding respectfully.

Now this was part of his job description.

Yuuri leaned down to grab papers and placed them in one pile before he organized them according to date or relevance to a certain subject if it was stated. He picked up trinkets that were knocked over and placed the poodle statue that he almost used as a club where he had found it. He worked around Victor who sat at his desk skimming through his computer.

Yuuri crossed through Hell’s door again to begin his work. He opened his laptop and went through emails of clientele requesting appointments, meetings, questions, and other things of the sort. Most he was told to reject as appointments with the CEO was only necessary if it came to it. Those needing to meet with the CEO had to see other executives first. He entered in appointments into the calendar accordingly.

Every now and then, Yuuri would have to go to the printer to the corner behind his desk. When he did, from this spot he could see his boss sitting at his desk. The first few times, he would be doing work at his desk or computer while tapping a pen against the desk. However, this time Yuuri saw he was sitting idly at his desk gazing out the window that framed the entire city. The CEO’s back was turned to him and the assistant couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking.

As if feeling the eyes on his back, Victor turned in his chair slightly in order to glance in the direction in which Yuuri was in. A sky-blue eye peeked out from the grey-white fringe and caught Yuuri. The assistant flinched back as if he had been burned before flushing red as he grabbed the paper the printer had ejected which was now cold instead of warm.

As soon as he placed himself back in his chair, the phone rang. Unlike before when the supervisor called, the phone lit up alerting him it was an outsider caller rather than someone within the Nikiforov Tower. The phone screamed and Yuuri scrambled to pick it up while pressing it to his ear. In his haste, the phone nearly flew off the desk before he caught it.

“This is Yuuri Katsuki, Mr. Nikiforov’s PA, speaking.”

Nothing was heard from the other end and chestnut brown eyes flickered to the phone, but to his confusion, it was saying it was still in the middle of a call. He said “hello” a few times before he ran his hand through his hair and tugged slightly in frustration. The caller ID read _Nikola Distribution_ and to his knowledge, this company was the one in which they were having a meeting with today. Which also meant this call was important and Yuuri can’t mess it up.

He pressed the phone to his ear and held it with his shoulder as he tried to exam what exactly was wrong with this phone. Throughout college, he had spent grueling hours learning different programs for business and even had a class on how to use a desk phone, but this was something else entirely. To his relief, when he stuck his head out to gauge where Victor was, the CEO was out of sight.

To his horror, he heard footsteps approaching his office, but then his horror turned into surprise as a familiar young blond stepped into his office.

“What’s the matter with you?” Yurio spoke with irritancy as he stood in front of the desk.

“I, uh can’t get the phone to work right. I answered the call, but it isn’t working.”

Green eyes flickered back from the phone to the panicked Yuuri before they lit up. He released a huff of breath before it turned into unabashed laughter that made the back of Yuuri’s neck turn pink. The teenager didn’t even try to help as he stood off watching the assistant fumble.

“You don’t even know how to work a phone?”

“This is much different than anything I’ve ever seen. There are so many buttons and none of them have words that tell me which is which! Could you please help me out?”

Yurio simply leaned against the desk with an incredulous expression on his face, “I don’t know how to work that thing. I only know how to do basic calls.”

Yuuri’s expression morphed into one of desperation as he tried to figure it out by himself since Yurio wasn’t going to be much help. The blond watched over his shoulder while he pressed various buttons. Suddenly the light that was on previously turned off.

“I think you hung up on them.”

A head of black hair dropped as he slowly put the phone down. He groaned as he pressed his face into his hands as he mumbled to himself. Yurio left the room soon after, but his voice was still heard within Victor’s desk area. It was quiet from the distance, but there was still a bite to it. A few minutes later, the elevator dinged.

Yurio returned in Yuuri’s office with another male figure. The new guest looked younger than Yuuri but still older than Yurio by a couple years which was evident by his strong and more mature features. He appeared as if he just began college or was in his last year of high school. He was dressed more casually than any of the other workers in the building with a simple black collared long sleeve shirt and a leather jacket with dark jeans. He carried a bag with him, but he said nothing.

“This is the new IT intern Otabek, he should be able to help you out,” Yurio said as he sauntered over to the wall furthest from Otabek and Yuuri.

The assistant explained what was the matter and Otabek seemed to understand as he reached into his bag and removed a notepad. He scratched at the shaved sides of his head in between his writing. Within a minute, he handed Yuuri a drawing of the keypad of the telephone with labels for the keys. The assistant smiled and bowed his head in thanks as he redialed the number while clipping the drawing to the cord of the phone.

As he was listening to the ringing while he was waiting for someone to answer, he heard Otabek speak for the first time as he left. However, his voice wasn’t directed at Yuuri, but rather Yurio who appeared rather tense.

“You're not banned from there, you can still come downstairs anytime you’d like.”

The IT worker left and Yuuri tilted his head slightly in a silent question to Yurio. The 16-year old shot him a scathing look that expressed the message of _none of your damn business_ before walking out. A deep voice then pierced his ear causing him to jump.

“Excuse me, are you there?”

“Ah yes, I apologize for before the phone was being temperamental.”

“I see… well, I am Emil Nikola’s PA calling to see if the meeting was still going to take place.”

“To my knowledge, Mr. Nikiforov is still available for the meeting today.”

The conversation ended soon after. Victor had returned and Yuuri stepped out in front of the desk. The CEO regarded his PA with a small smile as he patted Makkachin on the head while waving his hand for Yuuri to speak.

“You have a meeting in an hour.”

Victor seemed genuinely surprised, “Oh, do I?”

Yuuri gauged to see whether or not his boss was kidding. To his knowledge, this meeting had been arranged well before he even began working here. Yurio had also given him a reminder this morning by asking for a paper, but right now, Victor’s blue eyes showed no evidence of recalling the meeting or the prior reminder.

“You forgot?”

Victor merely shrugged as he grinned, “I am a very forgetful person, but that’s what you are here for.”

Well, Victor got him there. He nodded and as he turned to walk through Hell’s door that had his name branded on it, he heard a rich voice call out to him.

“I expect you to join me in order to take notes.”

“Of course,” Yuuri replied.

* * *

 

In an hour, Yuuri reminded Victor that it was time to go to the meeting. The CEO nodded and stood from his chair while patting Makkachin on the head saying he would be back soon. The pair made their way in the elevator silently without any conversation. Victor hit the desired floor and they were off.

Yuuri nervously twitched in his spot as he felt the awkward silence hang over them. Victor didn’t to catch this as he hummed as the elevator brought them down. When workers stepped in the elevator and when they found the CEO inside, it was equally as silent as they seemed to sow their mouths shut after they greeted him.

The room in which the meeting was held was already bustling with people dressed in suits. A young blond man sporting a nice bruise to the side of his face was retelling a story of how he got in while playing extreme sports in his spare time. The older man beside him who appeared to be his father rolled his eyes tiredly. Everyone snapped to attention when the pair entered the room.

Victor told everyone to take their seat and they were welcome to the alcohol and water provided. Most snatched the glass containing alcohol while Yuuri in turn just sipped at his water while he placed himself in a chair near the projector screen while Victor sat at the head of the table at the far side.

“Yuuri,” His name rolled off Victor’s tongue smoothly, “I expect you to sit over here beside me.”

Everyone’s attention shifted to the personal assistant and with a quick nod, he gathered his laptop and made his way over to the chair to the left of his boss. He opened his laptop to get ready to do his job and turned to the CEO when he was finished. When Victor smiled at him in acknowledgment, Yuuri couldn’t help but smile shyly back.

As the meeting went on, Yuuri learned that the Nikola Distribution was going to be taken over by the current CEO’s son Emil Nikola who was the one who happened to have the nice bruise on the side of his face. There were a few questions from other businessmen attending on whether or not Emil was suited for the position as he liked to fool around, but this issue was taken care of as Emil led the rest of the meeting.

The meeting for the most part after had been boring, but Yuuri did his job as he took notes of most things discussed and said. Occasionally, he would have to nudge Victor as the man would either doze off or scroll through his phone. Victor did not really pay attention to the final part of the meeting until it was addressing him.

“Mr. Nikiforov, I would like to incline a proposition when this meeting is over with.” Emil’s father said as he sipped from the glass in front of him.

Victor agreed. As soon as the meeting was over, all that remained was in the room was Yuuri, Victor, Emil, his father, and a young woman. Those from the Nikola company moved closer. The Nikola CEO spoke with a gruff voice as he folded his hands in front of him.

“I would like this conversation to be held without anyone other than yourself.”

His gaze was directed at Yuuri and the black haired young man went to stand, although unsure of himself. A gloved hand, however, refrained him from shutting his laptop. The same hand gestured for him to sit down and blue eyes regarded him softly.

“My PA will remain here as a witness to our conversation, he is not leaving.”

There was a scoff, “There are no need for witnesses. This is a private matter.”

Victor’s smile was empty unlike before and his eyes were hard, “You’d be surprised. Generally, when someone says there will be no need for witnesses, there will be a need for one. You yourself should have experience with that. He is staying, that is final.”

The Nikola CEO’s jaw clenched, “Very well. The matter I would like to discuss would be a merger between our companies to form one.”

As Yuuri was typing, he could see out of the corner of his eye that his boss seemed unsurprised. Instead, he leaned back in his chair as he reached for the glass containing alcohol Yuuri had disregarded. To Yuuri’s knowledge, the Nikiforov Corporation had never merged with another business and it was famous for not doing so as there was no need for it to unlike most. However, Victor pondered it for a moment rather than immediately giving an answer.

“If we were to merge, you would be the one to gain and I would be the one with a company in hand that would be more of a hassle than it is worth. There is nothing for me to gain, but apparently by that expression on your face, you think there is.”

“Marriage.”

The word was said as if it was part of an everyday conversation. Yuuri’s fingers fumbled on the keyboard and he back pressed several times. His chestnut eyes flickered from the Nikola members who sat there idly to his boss who seemed rather intrigued as he rubbed his chin.

“Marriage?”

“Yes, a marriage between you and my daughter,” He gestured to the beautiful young blonde woman with hazel eyes, unlike her brother’s blue ones, “A wife is what you will gain.”

Yuuri watched as Victor regarded the woman silently. She was silent the entire time and looked out the window showing no interest at all in being a part of the conversation. The fair-haired CEO soon let a chuckle escape his lips as he stood.

“She’s lovely, but I am not interested in marrying your daughter or merging with your company.”

He made his way to leave and had beckoned Yuuri to follow him. The assistant obeyed and gathered his things. As the pair was about to exit the conference room, an angered voice called out to them.

“You are already 27 and you’re unmarried! You can’t stay a bachelor forever, Nikiforov. You’ll end up merging with mine or some other company soon enough.”

Yuuri nearly ran into the back of Victor when he had suddenly stopped walking. Victor said nothing as he glanced over his shoulder with a smirk on his lips. He then turned his head forward before he kept walking back towards the elevator. Yuuri fidgeted with his laptop case in his hand as he wondered why Victor seemed so unaffected by someone practically throwing a marriage proposal at his feet. As if reading his thoughts, Victor spoke.

“It’s not the first time that happened.”

Yuuri blinked in surprise as the CEO stepped off the elevator and strode to the desk where he pulled out a handful of letters. As Yuuri read the handful he was given, he became uneasy. He did not exactly know why, but he summed it up to the fact of the other companies using Victor for their gain.

“The only one accepting them soon will be the shredder or the fire.” As to prove a point, the CEO threw half of them in the shredder by his desk.

“Oh, and you’re free to go home. You’re not needed for the rest of the day as I will be leaving in a few minutes.”

Surprise filled chestnut brown eyes. Normally in previous jobs, regardless if the boss left, he was forced to work until closing. However, Victor was serious and the CEO just reminded him to prevent the elevator from reaching the 85th floor this time so no one will enter like Yurio had. Makkachin had licked his hand goodbye before exiting the room with his owner.

* * *

 

Yuuri was forced to call Minami in order to drive him home as the car his friends shared needed to remain for them. He didn’t want to bother the young driver, but he sounded eager to help Yuuri out. This eagerness was still present as Minami raced up to his side when he spotted the assistant. When Yuuri sat in the car, the driver had also offered to buy lunch as they had not eaten yet.

Minami drove to a small restaurant that appeared a lot like a bistro. It was old compared to the other modern buildings and establishments. Placed on the side of the wall informed the guests that this bistro was among the oldest surviving establishments and facts such as the word bistro was derived from Russia. A French family owned and ran the place.

The both sat and ordered a warm stew to chase away the freezing air. The family that owned the establishment would occasionally walk around to make sure everyone was being served and if they found something out of place, Yuuri could detect one of the members speaking in quick French. The way French sounded through Russian and English conversations of other guests was odd, but that oddity made him enjoy his meal just a little more.

Minami spoke the most throughout their meal together. He spoke about idle things and had brought up that he was able to speak with the CEO. This had caught Yuuri’s attention and he glanced up from his stew.

“You didn’t get in trouble for coming with me in the store, did you?” The assistant asked with concern.

The blond driver lit up, “Oh no! He only wondered if you appeared satisfied with the suits and if you had a nice time. Mr. Nikiforov also wanted to make sure I treated you well. Of course, I said yes to everything and I told him how nice you were to let me join you! He even told me he’d give me a raise; can you believe that?”

Yuuri congratulated Minami, but a question had been nagging at his mind from their previous meeting, “Minami, I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but if your parents are doctors, why are working this job to pay for college tuition? Shouldn’t they be helping you out?”

The younger had his spoon halfway to his mouth before he placed it down with somewhat of a somber look on his face, “They cut me off.”

Now this caught Yuuri by surprise, “Why?”

“My parents wanted me to go to medical school like they had. I never wanted to and they didn’t approve of that.”

“What did you want to do then?”

The somber look disappeared and was replaced with Minami’s usual bright expression, “I always loved jazz and I loved dancing to it. One day after a performance I held with my friends, a woman came up to me and offered me a spot in a prestigious college of music and dance here in this city. She was impressed with the way I excited the crowd on my own.”

Yuuri remembered the music that was played in the car and how it now made sense.

“When I told my parents, they weren’t too thrilled. Unless I went to medical school, they wouldn’t help me. When Mr. Nikiforov had a usual appointment, they had a conversation and somehow, I was brought up. My parents later informed me that if I want to go to that college, I would have to work for it myself and that’s exactly what I’m doing now.”

“Have they ever seen you perform?”

Minami ate another spoonful of his stew and shook his head, “Nope. They’ve usually been too busy and since the day I told them I wasn’t going to medical school, I suppose it gave them even more of a reason not to.”

“I’m sure if they watch you perform and see how great you are, they would be more supportive. I’d even like to see you perform sometime.”

That phrase caused Minami to ball his hands into fists and bring them close to his face as he grew excited and his eyes watered, “Yuuri, you are the greatest! I’ll let you know as soon as possible when the next performance is.”

With the assistant’s encouragement, the driver spoke about anything and everything related to his passion. Yuuri let Minami talk the rest of the afternoon away as they both enjoyed their meal. When the pair went their separate ways after he was dropped off at his home, Yuuri opened his laptop to begin searching for a certain piece of information for later. After an hour, he found it and wrote down the number he found, however, it was more than likely he would need to request Victor for a bit of help when the time came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, I'd also like to inform everyone that if they want to contact me through Tumblr, I do not have my own personal one for various reasons. My good friend Ash is letting me have joint ownership of theirs.
> 
> So as of now, I am biggestrainbow on Tumblr and anything directed to me, I will be notified by Ash so I can respond!
> 
> Thanks again everyone, stay tuned for the next chapter!
> 
> Happy Holidays!
> 
> -Eden aka Midnight Trash


	4. Stress and Business Dinners

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me just say, I am sorry for what has happened that has delayed this chapter for the longest time. I mixed two chapter ideas together because the first part of the story was far too short for me to feel satisfied to give everyone after you guys waited so long. 
> 
> I'd also like to thank everyone that wished me well and took the time to think of me and write a get well while I was sick. I am better now and am ready to start writing again. I am so sorry I could not respond to everyone's get wells as there were so many, but again THANK YOU. I am not use to this many people caring, it's honestly shocking!

Over the course of the week, Yuuri began to realize when businessmen made threats towards each other, they weren’t messing around.

Yuuri had received countless emails from Nikola Distribution to schedule another meeting, for Victor to reconsider, etc., but he was told to ignore each of them unless it was of the utmost importance. All of them were placed in the recycling bin while he went on to view the rest and the other paperwork that began to pile up on his desk. Luckily, the cheat sheet for the phone had proved to be useful and after memorizing it, he was able to toss that directly in the bin.

Every time he would have to go to the printer, Yuuri could see his boss sitting at his desk; however, this was not like the last. Compared to the leisurely atmosphere that hung around the CEO as he sat at his desk idly fiddling with his laptop or thoughtfully staring out the window, Victor’s atmosphere had changed to that of stress. His brows were furrowed as he flipped through documents and at times while he was at his laptop he would push a hand through his hair with a frustrated expression.

Since the work today had caused Yuuri to frequent the printer, he caught these expressions every time. If Victor had glanced up and caught Yuuri, he would be quick to change his expression and put on a smile as he waved slightly. The smile never reached his eyes and it would drop the moment he turned his attention back to his work. Yuuri wasn’t even sure if the man had eaten yet despite sitting at his desk for the past 9 hours.

That possibility worried the personal assistant. Yuuri had used up all of his breaks he was allowed in the day and each time he came back, Victor still sat at his desk as if he never moved or got up. The time in which he would normally leave for his meals, Yuuri could hear him speaking to executives clarifying situations. Checking his watch, his dinner break was in 10 minutes and that was a generous hour before he would finish the rest of his 12-hour work shift.

When his alarm on his phone buzzed and his stomach growled, Yuuri exited his office and informed Victor that he would be taking his dinner break. The CEO simply smiled as he took the time to look up from his work and said to have a nice dinner. Chestnut brown eyes took a glance at the trash bin beside the desk and found only papers and no food wrappers.

Minami had crossed the distance from the opposite elevator to tell Yuuri that he was going to be in the break room with his dinner and as was everybody else. He nodded as he tied on his scarf before he exited the Nikiforov Tower with his wallet in hand. Yuuri carefully walked on the ice and snow covered sidewalk as he entered a Japanese restaurant he saw a block away from his work.

When he entered, it smelled that of home to him. The establishment was medium sized and larger than that of an average take out place. The aromas from the kitchen nearby were familiar to him. A glance over the food on the customer’s plates had the presentation of authentic Japanese food.

Yuuri could hear two of the managers, likely the twin daughters of the owner, bickering in Japanese at each other as he flipped through the menu offered at the front. Their insults towards each other were light-hearted, mostly just trivial things that the other was being lazy and not working, but a few were humorous. He stifled a laugh, but it still drew the attention of the two women. Seeing he could understand Japanese, they spoke to him in that language.

“Hello, would you like to eat in here or carry it out with you?” One twin, Amaya, asked him.

“Carry out, please.”

“What you would like to eat?” The other twin, Akiko, inquired as she pulled out a notebook.

Yuuri ordered katsudon for himself. As he was about to hand back the menu, he hesitated as he couldn’t help but think back to Victor who was likely still at his desk and was going to remain there until Yuuri had to go home at 8 pm. The stressed sky blue eyes were in the front of his mind and Yuuri couldn’t help but feel like he would do anything to change it.

“Make it two, please.”

The food came back some time later and the familiar smell of katsudon reached him. He knew it wasn’t going to taste as great as his mother’s since the smell was just a little different, but that was just him being fussy. He carried the bag in his hands which kept them warm in the bone-chilling air as he made his way back to the Nikiforov tower. When he reached the elevator and stared back at the carryout bag in his hand, he couldn’t help but feel like he wanted to kick himself.

 _Who the hell even gets their boss an entire meal rather than a simple doughnut and or coffee anyway?_ Yuuri couldn’t help but think.

Dozens of other thoughts like that raced in his mind. What if Victor hates katsudon? What if he was allergic to an ingredient? What if he laughed at him for doing such a thing? What if he didn’t take it or just threw it in the garbage? What if-

“Yuuri?”

Yuuri jumped as his name was called. To his surprise, he was alone and to his embarrassment, he was still in the elevator. Victor was staring at him from his desk with concern.

“Are you okay? You’ve been standing there with a worried expression for a while.”

Yuuri scurried off the elevator and in front of the CEO’s desk and he spotted Yurio behind the desk complaining that there was only water in the small fridge underneath the desk. Victor had turned to apologize, but he hesitated as he turned back to Yuuri as he noticed that the personal assistant hadn’t gone back to his office.

“Did you need something?”

Yuuri shifted his weight from foot to foot as he spoke quietly, “I noticed you hadn’t eaten today, so while I was out I grabbed something for you…”

Victor seemed taken aback and his voice was thick with surprise and curiosity, “You did?”

The assistant glanced up and locked eyes with his boss when he did not receive a negative response. His blue eyes were warm with appreciation and utter surprise that seemed to express that Victor was not use to acts of kindness given to him like this.  This thought actually made Yuuri sadden a bit and because of this, he spoke more confidently as he pulled out one of the boxes of katsudon and placed it in front of the CEO.

“When I was out at the Japanese restaurant nearby, I grabbed an extra one of my favorite foods for you. It’s katsudon which is a pork cutlet bowl,” Yuuri explained as Victor stared at the meal, “You’ve been working hard, I thought that you’d like to have something to eat.”

There was a chuckle low in the other’s throat as blue eyes sparkled, “Generally, the boss rewards their workers with dinner or lunch for working hard. This is a first for me.”

The same moment Yuuri went to push the food closer to Victor to insist he take it, the CEO’s hand went to grab it. Fingers guarded by the leather gloves ran smoothly over ran over Yuuri’s pale knuckles. The touch was light and there was a hidden tenderness at the gentle touch. His chestnut brown eyes flickered to sky blue and those eyes too had that tenderness hidden within them. Even when Yuuri removed his hand as if he had been burned while the small smile dropped off his face, he could still feel the touch.

It appeared as though Victor was about to speak until hands from the third party started reaching for the bag in front of the platinum haired CEO.

“You better be giving me some of that, Victor,” Yurio’s hand was latched onto the plastic bag.

To Yuuri’s immense surprise, Victor swiped a gloved hand and slid the food towards his chest. He crossed his arms over it and leaned over the desk and food to cover it. His broad shoulders created a barrier over the food and he turned his head back to talk to Yurio, but his mouth was more inclined to his shoulder so his voice was muffled. The position was entirely childish like a child who was possessive over their things.

“No, this was given to me by Yuuri.”

Yurio, who now only held a piece of the plastic bag, did not seem too thrilled, “Come on, I haven’t eaten all day. Yakov doesn’t have anything in his fridge. Plus, you owe me since you forgot and left me at the airport in Moscow a couple weeks ago.”

Yurio’s stomach growled as if to prove a point as he tried to extract the food from Victor. The man did not budge and simply had his gaze forward as he laughed. The sound was like chimes and pleasantly warm to the ears. Yuuri was a little nervous before due to the escalating situation between the two, but the carefree laugh soothed his nerves at a shocking speed. The personal assistant was about to leave before he glanced back at the takeout box in his hand.

Yuuri mulled it over in his mind, but he smiled with a sigh. Yurio was busy kicking Victor’s chair while saying who knows what in Russian, but he immediately stopped when the takeout box was handed in his direction. The smaller blond placed a hand in his pocket while the other snatched the box of food.

Without another word said, Yuuri left for the elevator as he remembered Minami saying the others were waiting for him. He trailed his finger over the knuckle that still carried the sensation that seemed to have no intention of leaving since Victor’s fingers trailed over that spot. The elevator ride was a breeze and he made his way towards the break room where he found his friends waiting. Minami waved to him and patted the seat in between him and Phichit.

At the table were two new people Yuuri had never seen before or met so he assumed that Minami had invited them over as they would break their constant chatting to address him for a moment about a certain topic. Yuuri had learned fairly fast that the young redheaded Russian woman was Mila and the tan skinned Italian woman with striking violet eyes was Sara.

“Hey Yuuri, didn’t you say you were getting food? Where is it?”

Yuuri took a minute to explain how he ended up with no food. Mila and Sara seemed thoroughly amused and laughed while the others were surprised and did not really know what to say other than that it was nice of him to give food to his boss and Yurio. Phichit had offered him some of his curry which in turn started the chain of offerings. Minami gave three chicken nuggets, Leo and Guang-Hong gave their side salad, Mila offered her extra soda, and Sara cut a half of what she had left of her sub giving it to Yuuri along with eating utensils. The food offered was quite the interesting combination, but he took it with appreciation.

Mila and Sara went back to their own separate conversation about several office workers. Yuuri, for the most part, was a listener much like Guang-Hong at the moment as they both listened to their friends speak for the majority of the conversation. Yuuri was in the middle taking a bite of the curry after finishing the three nuggets and quarter of a sub along with the small salad when he felt Phichit’s eyes on him.

Phichit stared at him for a long time, “Say, Yuuri, I don’t ever remember you having those suits you’ve worn this week.”

“That’s because he didn’t, Mr. Nikiforov bought them for him!” Minami exclaimed.

That phrase seemed to catch everyone’s attention. Phichit’s face had morphed into one that screamed “ _give me all the details now”_ and Leo and Guang-Hong had looked up from their food with the fork midway to their mouths. Even Mila and Sara whose conversations couldn’t be interrupted even if there had been an explosion nearby had slowly turned into one of silence.

“Mr. Nikiforov did not like my suits so he bought me the ones I have been wearing this past week,” Yuuri explained lamely with a shrug as he went to reach for some of the food given to him earlier.

Sara and Mila, however, had other ideas. The two reached for the food he was going for and pulled it out of his reach.

“Oh no,” Mila said, “You can’t just say that and then move on. What else has he done?”

The personal assistant paused for a second as he thought. He then explained the meeting and when he got to the part of the marriage proposal, the girls had rolled their eyes and mouthed to each other ‘ _another one?’_.

“That’s about all I can think of other than the suits. I’m sure he’s done this before though, it’s nothing special.”

Mila and Sara glanced at each other with an incredulous look on their face before they faced Yuuri again.

“Listen, Yuuri,” Sara began, “That isn’t the normal Mr. Nikiforov. Sure, he is generous, but he’s not _that_ generous when there is nothing for him to gain. Mr. Nikiforov will give workers the needed pay raise as long as it’s reasonable, but never before has he bought what I can guess is 10,000 dollars in suits for a personal assistant.”

“As for you,” Mila added while pointing a finger at the personal assistant, “It’s odd for you to even be here.”

Yuuri raised his eyebrows, “I don’t understand.”

“It also isn’t normal for Mr. Nikiforov to have a personal assistant. He usually does everything himself. He choreographs his own meetings, he does his own contracts, he makes his own phone calls, you get the gist of it. I don’t know what you did, but he allowed you into his space. Everyone in the office has been talking about it after they saw the “young personal assistant in the elevator”.”

For some odd reason, Yuuri’s heart was pounding at this knowledge. He rubbed at his chest as he adjusted his glasses at an attempt to brush the feeling away from his heart. Dark brows furrowed as he pondered what exactly he did to ‘stand out’. He could come up with nothing. The only thing that made sense now was why in the beginning he felt eyes on his back when he would press the 85th button.

Mila caught his expression and slid his food back to him, “Don’t worry about it, though. Mr. Nikiforov must like you so you should be just fine.”

That last part did not exactly help the unusual sensation settle but in fact did the opposite.

* * *

 

The very next day, Yuuri carried his toaster waffles with him as he crossed the room to his desk. The pile of paperwork already placed on his desk so early in the morning meant for a very grueling day. With a look of determination on his face, he placed one of the chocolate chip toaster waffles in his mouth as he sat his desk to begin work.

Not long after he began his work, Yuuri heard footsteps approaching his desk. After he finished writing on his notepad, he glanced upwards and froze stiff when he saw his boss standing in front of his desk casually with two cups of coffee in his hand with an amused look on his face. Seconds later, Yuuri remembered the waffle hanging out of his mouth and he instantly moved it away as he swallowed the piece thickly while he embarrassingly adjusted his glasses.

Luckily for Yuuri, Victor only chuckled before he spoke, “I got this for you as a thank you for yesterday.”

The coffee in his left hand was handed over to the personal assistant. Yuuri stumbled over his words and soon managed to express a thank you. He sipped at the coffee and his face lit up at the pleasant taste that wasn’t too sweet nor too bitter. Victor in response lit up as well. However, he hovered for a bit and spoke when Yuuri tilted his head.

“We have a meeting today,” Victor said and Yuuri nodded since he already knew this, “We should get there early.”

Yuuri checked the watch on his wrist. They would be about 15 minutes early if they had left now, but with his coffee in hand, he stood with an agreeable nod. Victor waited for him by the door and walked beside him on the way to the elevator. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke to Yuuri softly.

“How do like working with me so far?” Victor asked in between sips of his coffee, “I’m not giving you too much work that it stresses you out, right?”

Yuuri laughed to himself a bit, “No, it’s been fantastic. Thank you for the suits, by the way, I hope I look the part now.”

“Absolutely and it was my pleasure.”

Victor’s blue eyes were bright as they always seemed to be when Yuuri looked at them. Since he was taller than the personal assistant, he tilted his head down a bit as his lips were pulled into a smile. Yuuri increasingly found that Victor’s grins and small smiles were infectious and like now, Yuuri would send a small smile back.

Their conversations were idle ones in the elevator and on their way to the conference room. From those about work to how Yuuri’s adjustment in Russia was. The CEO’s attention was completely on Yuuri as he spoke. Those who tried to get Victor’s attention while he spoke to Yuuri was waved away or ignored. Internally, Yuuri felt a bit humbled that the CEO’s attention was only on him.

When they arrived at the conference room, surprisingly there was already people in there. Out of the corner of his eye, Yuuri could see slight irritation on Victor’s face that was well hidden as he greeted the rest of the staff. The personal assistant recognized Mila who then rushed over and linked arms with Yuuri.

“Hello again, Yuuri, ” She said with a bouncy tone, “Good morning, Mr. Nikiforov.”

Blue eyes darted between Yuuri and Mila, “Good morning, Ms. Babicheva.”

Mila laughed, “Oh, I’m _Ms. Babicheva_ now. What did I do that you can’t call me by my first name?”

Yuuri watched the interaction with slight amusement. Victor soon left to speak with the other officials from another company. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mila smirking at the CEO.

“Oh, this will be fun.” She had murmured to herself.

Evident by her playful rather than professional attitude towards the CEO, the two had a history that allowed them to be unprofessional.

“How do you know Mr. Nikiforov?”

“I’ve known him since I was a little girl and he was a teenager. When Yakov would have to babysit me and mentor Victor, Victor would also play with me to keep me occupied. He would take me ice skating on occasions when I would be upset.” She smiled fondly as she spoke about it but also added, “But you know for professional purposes, I am supposed to address him as Mr. Nikiforov.”

Yuuri nodded and Mila busied herself around the room, more so by Victor. In the meantime, he offered drinks to the members of the other company. A woman with an expensive looking fur coat smiled politely at him. She was an older woman, most likely in her late 50s, but she was radiant as she was surrounded by a younger Korean male and female; most likely her children.

“Oh, aren’t you such a nice young man. Seung-gil, why can’t you be like that?”

The young male beside her simply rolled his eyes as he took a sip of his drink, “There’s nothing to gain from it.”

The young female elbowed him and he looked at her sourly after muttering “Norae”, “Being nice can gain you connections which may be useful in the future or you can be like this nice PA and simply be courteous to others. You’ll never find a partner otherwise.”

At the mention of a partner, Seung-gil walked away. The elder woman only shook her head, but she smiled at Yuuri, “Say, young man, would you like to hear a joke?”

Norae cringed at this and turned to leave, but Yuuri was always up for a good laugh in a stiff atmosphere so he agreed.

“What did two businessmen say to each other as they made a deal during an earthquake?”

Yuuri thought about it for a moment, but he resigned with a small smile, “What did they say?”

“Let’s shake on it!”

The joke was awful, but Yuuri couldn’t help but laugh. It was an honest laugh and the woman seemed to know this as she lit up brighter than the city lights at night. She giggled like a school girl and quieted down after she took a sip of her drink.

“Ah, you liked that one did you? Well then, why did the doughnut maker leave his job?” Again, Yuuri resigned with a smile, “He was fed up with the hole business!”

After chuckling, Yuuri offered one of his own jokes he had heard, “What happens when business is slow at a medicine factory?” The woman who seemed to be so full of jokes appeared stumped so Yuuri said, “You can hear a cough drop.”

The woman blinked before quickly understanding. The woman let out a chortle that turned into unabashed laughter that was rather un-lady-like in a business setting. However, it was infectious and the personal assistant found himself laughing too. Their laughed drew attention to themselves. Victor soon walked over along with Norae.

“Is everything all right, Ms. Lee?” Victor asked politely while Norae had a look carrying the same message on her face while trying to shush her mother.

Ms. Lee wrapped an arm around Yuuri’s shoulders and yanked him down to her level, “I apologize for my outburst, but this young man is an absolute dear. What is his name?”

Victor seemed surprised but answered nonetheless, “Yuuri Katsuki. He’s my current PA.”

“If he wasn’t your personal assistant, I would’ve love to take Mr. Katsuki off your hands. He is an absolute joy to be around and even appreciates my jokes! Humor goes a long way in business, you know? Keeps everything light hearted. Since I can’t take him, I absolutely insist you bring him to dinner with us tonight.”

Yuuri was surprised at this women’s strength as he was held under her arm. He found it a little hard to breathe, but once her daughter pulled him from her grasp he took a breath of air before speaking, “I don’t think I could intrude on your dinner.”

“There would be no intrusion! Isn’t that right, Mr. Nikiforov? You wouldn’t mind?”

“I have no objections,” Victor leaned over to Yuuri and whispered, “If you deny her request, you would be insulting to her.”

Yuuri’s head snapped over to the CEO and a questioning look crossed his face while Victor simply smiled at him. Ms. Lee waited patiently and Yuuri felt a slight elbow to his side from his boss. With a sigh, he smiled politely and accepted the offer. The meeting was called to a start and Victor and Ms. Lee went to the front.

Yuuri pulled Mila back before he asked, “Who is Ms. Lee?”

The Russian woman looked startled, “You mean you being friendly with her wasn’t to help Mr. Nikiforov out?”

“What?”

“Ms. Lee is the owner of many ice rinks around the world. Mr. Nikiforov distributes his products to her and she is a crucial client of Nikiforov Corp,” Mila said lowly, “I thought you were just being friendly with her because of that. You really weren’t aware of who she is?”

Yuuri’s eyebrows probably raised up to his hairline, “No, I wasn’t aware of that.”

The meeting began soon after. Yuuri was again called to sit beside Victor as he took notes while Mila sat beside him to take notes only when it was relevant. The CEO was more awake this time as he rather attentive to the projection and spoke freely every now and then. Yuuri realized that a lot of the product manufactured by Nikiforov Corp was distributed through Ms. Lee’s rinks.

Victor was truly a sight to be seen when he took the stage. The moment he arose from his chair, Yuuri saw him transform into a more serious figure. His voice was rich and pronounced and so pleasant to Yuuri’s ears that he at times neglected to take a few notes because he was so distracted. Victor could probably read aloud the entire dictionary and Yuuri would mostly find himself enraptured. His brown eyes scanned the room to find all but Mila seemingly held by the luxurious voice and confident aura.

After Victor’s address, the meeting came to a close a few minutes after. Victor again walked with him back to the elevator and to their office. His confidence was still radiating through his smiles and tone of voice when he spoke as he slowly came down from his high of speaking during the meeting. He informed Yuuri that they would leave at 5 pm for the dinner together and the personal assistant only nodded.

* * *

 

When 5 pm arrived, Victor had met him at his doorway. Yuuri adjusted his tie on the suit he straightened his hair a bit to make sure no ends were sticking up from his previously running his hands through it. His body was racked with a bit of nervousness as he had never been to a formal dinner before. His boss, however, seemed totally at ease.

Yuuri sat beside Victor in the back of the limousine that Minami drove. Minami unlike before was silent in the presence of the CEO, but it wasn’t polite silence rather it just seemed the young driver was too nervous to speak. Soft instrumental music played in the background and Victor hummed to it. His fingers on his left hand resting on his knee moved in time with the violin and the pattern in which they moved reminded Yuuri of fingerings if one were to play the violin.

 The ride was about another 15 minutes before they arrived at the exquisite restaurant. Women in dinner dress and men in suits who helped the women out of the luxury cars were mingling outside the establishment. Yuuri caught sight of Ms. Lee, Seung-gil, Norae with a baby in her arms and a little girl clutching her legs.

Victor seemed to pick up on Yuuri’s hesitance to leave the car. He turned back to Yuuri and offered him his hand with a smile. It felt like Yuuri was being pulled from negative feelings and he felt oddly reassured as his hand slipped into Victor’s. The tug was gentle enough to help him snap out of it and he smiled at the Lee family after Victor’s hand had let go.

While they awaited their table to be prepared, Seung-gil, Ms. Lee, and Victor had already begun talking business after exchanging pleasantries. Yuuri and Norae stood beside each other and simply listened without much input as it wasn’t Yuuri’s place and Norae was simply busy with her children. Yuuri began to wonder if she had no choice to bring her children or if she could not stand to be apart from them.After a minute, Norae grabbed his attention.

“Excuse me, Mr. Katsuki?” When Yuuri turned to her she continued, “I would rather not interrupt them, would you mind watching my children for a minute while I excuse myself to the restroom?”

Yuuri did not have really much of an option. Unfortunately for him, the baby boy who had been sleeping the entire time had a sixth sense to know when his mother was leaving. He squirmed and whined in the unfamiliar arms that belonged to Yuuri after he was handed off. The little girl seemed to be nervous as well as her bright brown eyes widened and welled with tears at the separation. Fortunately, Yuuri had experience with kids thanks to Yuko’s triplets.

It took a second for the baby to calm down once Yuuri began humming an old Japanese tune he often used when one, or sometimes all, of the triplets were restless as newborns. Yuuri had moved several yards away from the group as to not disturb them before he got down on one knee to the little girl’s eye level. She twisted her hands and looked towards the ground.

“Your mom will be right back, I promise.”

The little girl’s lip twitched at this and her eyes met Yuuri’s. For the small amount of time, he distracted her from her anxiety of being parted with her mother by asking her what her favorite flower was which he found out was a rose. When Norae came back, she was surprised at the fact that her daughter was being open with Yuuri. He only smiled sheepishly in response.

Yuuri was still watching the children when Norae came back because she was tied up with a phone call. There was an odd sensation, though. The feeling of eyes on him that pierced through the back of his skull and through his back made him turn around. Chestnut brown eyes met blue that peered through platinum fringe before the sky-blue eyes turned back to the group.

As Victor’s attention turned back to the group, his expression lacked attention. His eyes were trailing off towards that sky and his expression seemed oddly wistful. A small smile graced his face as he placed his hands in his pockets. Yuuri wondered the reasoning behind this.

After the children were returned to their mother, they were all seated at a round table near the back of the restaurant. The table cloth was a blinding white with elegantly folded burgundy napkins and polished silverware. A young man arrived and sat himself down beside Norae after kissing her and apologizing for his tardiness.

Yuuri soon found himself in a conundrum. There was far too many silverware for one person and he stared at them for a moment to figure out which was the appropriate one to grab for the salad. The little girl to his left seemed more educated in silverware etiquette than he was which Yuuri found damaging to his pride and left him unable to ask for help.

A sudden tap to his knee from a hand nearly caused Yuuri to shoot for the ceiling as he let out a small startled squeak.

“Pardon me,” Yuuri said to everyone at the table whose attention he drew.

The tap to his knee came again and this time he looked to his right. Victor kept his gaze forward, but very briefly he had flickered his eyes over to Yuuri before turning back away. With a slow movement of his hand, Victor gently tapped the fork furthest away from the plate. Yuuri stared at him for a moment with surprise before he grinned.

While the others were talking and discussing possible methods for increasing business, Yuuri would switch between eating and entertaining the little girl beside him. He used a paper napkin he had in his pocket from lunch earlier and began folding it so it would make a paper rose. The little girl lit up at this and clapped her hands softly with a bright smile. She fiddled with it in her hands as she was disinterested in what the grownups were discussing.

“They always talk about the same thing,” She said with distaste and Yuuri raised his eyebrows.

Yuuri listened in at this point with curiosity. Rather than before where the conversation was light, there was more bit and frustration in the way the Lee’s spoke. Victor’s voice was somewhat tired and Ms. Lee seemed to have lost her wit.

They were discussing methods to expand their business. Victor’s part was easy as after his products were sold and distributed there would be little issue for him. The Lee family, however, was at risk of losing money on the expansion. Seung-gil would calculate the pros and cons every plan. So far there were far more cons than pros.

“I will not invest money in a place that already has plenty of rinks. Even if I construct more rinks a good distance from the others, the small increase of money will not amount to what it will cost to keep several up and running in places that have rinks,” Ms. Lee argued.

“Did you ever think of building rinks in places that are hot and normally do not have ice rinks?” Yuuri blurted out.

Everyone soon turned towards the assistant and Victor stared at him quizzically. Yuuri couldn’t exactly recant what he just blurted out absentmindedly so he rephrased himself.

“Well, what I mean is, did you ever to think to build rinks in places that are normally known for warm weather?” When the idea was not immediately met with negative expressions, but rather curious ones, he continued, “When I studied in the United States, I had visited several warm states when I would leave Detroit. I noticed there was a serve lack of ice rinks to the point that locals would complain of a two-hour drive if they wanted to go to one. Major cities in warmer states do not have rinks I’ve noticed and if the weather is warm, people naturally want to go do something that would cool them down.”

Everyone at the table was very thoughtful. Seung-gil spoke first, “The only difficult setback in construction within major cities would be finding an idle location, but a solution to that would either reconstruct a lot of property or just simply place it on the outskirts. The other setbacks are minor and easily fixable. I can calculate that if it is a success, there will be a massive profit due to attendance.”

Ms. Lee suddenly laughed and hit her fist on the table, “We’ve been trying to settle this for a week and look at Mr. Katsuki coming up with a simple solution in a matter of minutes. How did that idea go over our heads? Victor, you truly have an amazing PA.”

Victor’s expression as he gazed at Yuuri was one of pride, “It appears so. Well done.”

The tone was gentle mixed with impression that left Yuuri turning red under the praise. He rubbed his hands together in his lap as he tightened his lips to hold back the smile that was threatening to crack on his face. His heart was giddy as it beat fast and he thought it was going to skip freely right out of his chest as dinner continued.

Since the issue was resolved, the dinner guests only spoke with laughter as they exchanged stories. Yuuri and Victor merely listened, the CEO offering more than the assistant at times. Victor still would slowly gesture to the silverware that was needed at the time for Yuuri to notice, which he was thankful for.

The ride back was silent and Yuuri found himself nodding off as the exhaustion kicked in. At some point, he had fallen asleep and had awoken to find his boss nowhere to be seen as Minami and Phichit called out to him. Phichit tugged his hand to pull him out of the car and when Yuuri blinked the sleep away he found himself back at Nikiforov Tower. He felt a little bad for falling asleep while his boss was present, but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he would apologize later.

Right now, sleep was the only thing that concerned him.

* * *

 

The next day as he promised to himself, Yuuri apologized for falling asleep in the car. Victor had only nodded his head and said he didn’t mind as he had been tired too so it was reasonable. Plus, Victor stated, he deserved the nap after impressing everyone at the table. Yuuri continued on with his work in the day as the cold seeped through the windows and reached his skin that would cause him to shiver. When Yuuri had returned after running errands throughout the building, a bag was sitting on his desk that hadn’t been there before and he inspected it.

To Yuuri’s surprise, it was katsudon from the same restaurant he had been to previously. Attached to the bag was a little bright yellow sticky note. He flipped it over and chestnut brown eyes read the elegant script.

_It’s my turn to treat you._

There was no name attached to it, but after filing thousands of papers that had the same exact handwriting, Yuuri knew it was Victor’s handwriting on this note. He chuckled lightly to himself as he remembered Victor saying that bosses are the ones to treat their workers. A smile spread on his face as he wrote a polite thank you on a sticky note before walking over to the CEO’s desk and placing it on the keyboard for Victor to find when he came back. The warmness in his chest at the moment overran the cold as Yuuri returned to his desk to enjoy his meal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: The judgment of the number of ice rinks in warm states is entirely fictional and not accurate, however, the ride to one at times is not. To get to the nearest ice rink where Ash used to live was a 2-hour drive. 
> 
> The 12-hour work shift is based off Ash's old job who was allowed lunch and dinner breaks. You should have seen all the meal planning Ash had to do before work.
> 
> If there are any questions on this fic, send me a message on Tumblr. Ash and I's account is biggestrainbow. 
> 
> Thank you all so much again for the love and support when I sick and also for this fic!
> 
> -Eden (part of biggestrainbow on tumblr)


	5. If Lost Please Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who was back at the hospital again twice! However, I am back home now so I am fully capable of writing :)

It was just not Yuuri’s day. Earlier this morning, perhaps, but right now it was like the universe was shouting a massive proverbial “fuck you” in his face.

Earlier, everything was going fantastic. He woke up early and was able to sit down and enjoy his toaster waffles this time, chocolate chip ones since it was such a good morning, before he decided to go for a run since he had time. Despite the freezing cold and the snow, he did not slip and the sun hit him just right as it rose to warm him up.

Yuuri had also chosen his favorite suit to wear from the new line, which was a deep rich purple with a black dress shirt and tie, to work this morning. On the way to the Nikiforov Tower, there was hardly any traffic and in the building, everyone just seemed to be in a top mood. When Victor had arrived, he had greeted Yuuri was charisma and some more coffee.

About ten minutes after the CEO had arrived in his office, Victor had asked Yuuri to watch Makkachin as the boisterous poodle has taken a liking to the assistant. Without hesitation, Yuuri had agreed. He was informed that Victor would be taking most of the day away from the office.

While he worked, Makkachin slept by his desk and snored softly. Occasionally, he would woof or yip while he dreamt while moving his paws in the action like he was chasing something. When Makkachin would awake, he would trot around the office to occupy himself and would always be within sight of Yuuri.

When lunch came, Yuuri thought it would be a great idea to take Makkachin for a walk around the park in the center of the city. This is about the time when his great day became his worst day.

* * *

 

Yuuri hooked Makkachin up to the leash and collar Victor had left for him if he wanted to use it since Victor explained that Makkachin is great off leash and would come when called. At the mention or signal of going for a walk, the brown poodle had jumped up from his spot on the floor and ran over at a rather shocking speed for an older dog.

Makkachin and Yuuri had woven through the crowd of people on the sidewalk outside the Nikiforov Tower. Some had bumped into them as they were talking on their cellphones at the time and drowned out their surroundings. Others commented what an adorable dog Makkachin was, who in turn soaked up the attention, as they passed by.

It took about ten minutes to get to the park from the Nikiforov Tower. The park was in the center of the city and about the only piece of untouched patch of nature in a 30-mile radius. The trees were white from the snow and the lake was frozen over. There were people skating on the lake and other running on the running trail that was routinely being cleared of snow.

At the sight of the park, Makkachin had lit up and tugged forward with enthusiasm as he directed Yuuri to his favorite spots in the park. After a few stops at secluded places under trees and by the lake, Makkachin led him over to where there were other dogs prancing and playing in a grassy area that was layered with snow. The elder poodle turned back to Yuuri and had a silent plead of “ _please let me play with them”_. Yuuri remembered what Victor had said and unclipped the leash from the brown leather collar.

Makkachin barked thanks and dashed forward to play with dogs he seemed to be familiar with. Yuuri sat down on a bench after he dusted the snow off it. He watched Makkachin play and roll in the snow like a puppy and Yuuri smiled as he reminisced on his late toy poodle, Vicchan, who had passed away during his college years.

Yuuri spoke every now and then to other owners, mostly Siberian Husky or Alaskan Malamute owners as those two breeds outnumbered the others. At one certain moment, about 5 huskies had started a howl which Yuuri mistook for wolves since he wasn’t paying attention to anything other than Makkachin. His eyes were always on the poodle like a mother with their child.

After a little while, Yuuri noticed Makkachin acting a little odd. The poodle had pulled away from the pack of dogs that were running around and playing with each other to shove his nose in the snow. Makkachin was snorting as the snow got up his nose when he was deeply taking in the scents. He soon began pacing as he raised his nose in the air as the scents led him to the far-right corner. Just then, he paused mid-step.

All of sudden he just took off.

The poodle dashed for streets and at the same time, Yuuri had scrambled off the bench shouting for Makkachin to stop. The senior dog ignored him each time and Yuuri was muttering under his breath sarcastically that yes, indeed Makkachin responds to his name. He might give Victor a piece of his mind later. Several times he had slipped on the ice and nearly tripped over the other dogs as he chased the runaway poodle.

Yuuri attempted to catch up with Makkachin before he reached the streets because the traffic did not paint a pretty outcome in his mind. There was a moment when Makkachin would pause to sniff the ground and the assistant would take the moment to sprint forward. His hand gripped onto the leather collar and he let out a sound of triumph.

However, to his horror, Makkachin yanked his head back and began twisting. After a brief struggle, the furry head broke free and Yuuri was left only with the collar in hand. Makkachin wasted no time to dart across the street and through the traffic. Yuuri followed and at several moments, the cars he jumped in front of would brake and the drivers would angry shout in Russian.

When Yuuri made it to the other side of the street and to the sidewalk where a crowd of people were walking. Chestnut brown eyes scanned the crowd, but there was no sign of the brown poodle. His heart began to race at this and he frantically began calling out for Makkachin. He probably looked like a crazy person, he could tell by the looks that were shot in his direction, but he could care less at the moment.

After about 10 minutes with no sign of Makkachin, he resigned himself to stopping people to ask if they have seen the missing dog. His only problem was that although he is fluent in Japanese and proficient in English, he hardly knew any of the Russian language. He had begun learning the basics, but he wasn’t at the point of being able to ask if anyone had seen Makkachin. Those who did understand English gave no help.

Yuuri ran a hand through his dark hair with a sigh of frustration. His heart still felt like it was going to escape from his chest or stop altogether. The anxiety coursing through his veins at the possibility of never finding Makkachin caused him to appear paler than he actually was. Some people expressed concern, but for the most part he was on his own in the search.

10 minutes soon turned into an hour. An hour soon turned into two hours. At this point, Yuuri was considering digging his own grave. Each time his phone would ring, his soul would leave his body bit by bit as he feared that it was Victor calling him. His dress shoes had to be worn down at this point and his hair had to look like a mess from how many times his hand had run through it.

The moment Yuuri was about to mull over a good place for a grave, a brown streak caught his eye.

At first, he thought he had imagined it. He rubbed his nearly frozen hands against his eyes, but he found that the streak of brown was indeed a familiar brown poodle. His feet moved faster than his mind could process as chased after Makkachin who again was on the move. After a turn around the corner, he caught up to Makkachin.

Makkachin paced around the fence that surrounded a building and on the fence was a no trespassing sign. The poodle wasted no time digging under the chain link fence and Yuuri hissed for the dog to stop as he tried to pull him back. Unfortunately, Makkachin escaped yet again and ran towards the building.

There were footprints in the snow that were nearly covered with fresh snow, but they were still slightly visible as they led in the direction of the building. With a resigned sigh, Yuuri gripped the chain link fence and began climbing over it.

Makkachin was worth more than a trespassing fine at this point.

After awkwardly climbing over the fence, he took a brief moment to look over the run down building. The building’s rectangular shape reminded him a lot of an ice rink. The paint on the outside was beginning to peel from the lack of care and the weather. When he proceeded to the doors, he found it unlocked and the chain with the lock hanging on one of the handles. To his surprise, when he opened the door slightly, he could feel the cold air emitting from inside rather than expected warmth.

Yuuri snuck into the lobby of what indeed was an ice rink. There were figure skates that lined the shelves behind a counter, but the lights were off in the lobby. Through the darkness, his ears caught the familiar sound of figure skates on the ice. The sweet sound was nostalgic and pleasant as he crept into the lighted area through the door that was opened slightly. Chestnut brown eyes landed on Makkachin who was sitting by the open door of the rink.

To Yuuri’s surprise, the figure on the ice appeared relatively familiar. When he stood where Makkachin was, his eyes widened as he watched Victor glide on the ice. His movements were smooth as he did easy figure eights and single loop jumps with ease and grace. He seemed to be lost in thought, humming his own tune, as he moved smoothly across. Anyone who didn’t read previous articles that announced he was a previous figure skater, would be able to tell that Victor had experience in figure skating by the way he held himself and moved his arms like he was performing a specific routine.

For a couple of minutes, Yuuri found himself stuck in place, simply enraptured as he watched Victor skating. The CEO seemed lost in thought, entirely unaware of his surroundings. He must’ve started not that long ago as he seemed relatively still full of energy and not tired as he appeared to put no effort behind moving on the ice. Yuuri smiled at this.

Victor had become his role model and idol when he was relatively young. Yuuri had been walking on the streets with his parents when he saw an imported European article that a man was reading with a young boy’s face on the cover. The boy's appearance at the time is what caught his attention at first from the bright sky blue eyes to the striking fair hair that was in a ponytail as he was figure skating. The article had been in English though, so Yuuri never understood it as he walked past it.

It wasn’t until he was 13 that Yuuri had “seen” Victor again. He was with Yuko at the time and after the two of them spent their time skating, Yuuri’s attention miraculously caught the television. On the screen was a program that had two parents and a teenager in the middle holding two awards. The man was very broad with cropped dirty blond hair and the woman had lush fair silvery platinum hair like that teenager in the middle.

Yuuri’s eyes had widened when he saw the boy from the magazine who stuck out to him several years ago. His features were sharper and his hair longer and undone from the ponytail. His build was broader in the shoulders and with evident toned muscle. This time, however, Yuuri was able to understand what was being described. The teenage Victor had won an award from his prestigious high school for business and one for figure skating. The Japanese newscaster raved on the enigma that was the Nikiforov family and their success as well as Victor’s successes at such a young age as the boy was taking the world by storm.

Yuuri had been inspired that Victor could handle two very different worlds and yet he also felt a similar feeling. One day he would have to take over the family business and soon make figure skating a distant memory, but here this teenager named Victor could handle both worlds. Sure he might have more accessibility given his family status, but even then, Yuuri admired him. Victor had shown that a person could do both and if he could, so could Yuuri to a degree.

A sudden bark pulled him out of his reminiscent thoughts.

Yuuri nearly jumped out of his skin as he nearly slapped his hands over Makkachin’s muzzle. Yet, none it would matter as Victor skidded to a halt and snapped towards the direction of the sound. Yuuri nearly boiled from embarrassment at being caught and shame for viewing something that had felt so private as Victor was lost in previous thought.

“Oh, hello, Yuuri,” Victor said with a tilted of his head and surprise, “How did you know I was here?”

Surprisingly, Victor did not seem upset, just rather curious which surprised Yuuri. Victor skated across the ice to where Yuuri was and leaned on the barrier after he tossed the casual sports jacket that he had tied around his waist on the barrier. It was odd in a way at how casually dressed he was in a simple long-sleeved navy blue shirt and grey sweatpants.

Yuuri also did not know how he was going to explain how he found Victor. It wasn’t exactly Yuuri per say either, but Makkachin. He _definitely_ was not going to endeavor that happened the past couple of hours ago on how he almost lost the CEO’s precious poodle. That was something he could keep to his grave.

“Makkachin picked up on a scent and got a little excited around here. He, uh, managed to get under the gate, but I followed him in here to get him so he would be back at the tower when you returned.”

Victor tapped a finger to his lip in thought, “So you risked getting a fine for trespassing in an area that has a strict no trespassing policy in order to retrieve Makkachin because he is my dog?” He chuckled lightly, “Yuuri Katsuki you are something special.”

Yuuri’s skin turned a brand-new shade of red and his insides went warm as he was left speechless. It was irritating how easily and how often he seemed to flush red around the CEO.

“Lose some of your clothes.”

Yuuri nearly exploded as he involuntarily exclaimed, “ _What?”_

The sudden outburst echoed throughout the rink and Victor was very quiet with his eyebrows raised.

“I said that if you want to skate with me, you’ll need to lose some of your clothes. It will lessen the restriction.”

Now he was confused, “Skate with you?”

The smile that formed on Victor’s face was soft and tender, “Yes, I’d like for you to skate with me. You did say you like to figure skate. If you don’t want to, you can just take a seat. If you’d like to join me there are skates in the back you can use.” Yuuri opened his mouth, but Victor cut him off, “And if you’re worried about the no trespassing part, don’t worry, I own this place.”

That made sense to Yuuri as he went to retrieve the skates. Victor most likely used this place as a means to escape from work and to think. The lack of care on the outside compared to the inside and the warnings would make a person believe that a wealthy person like Victor Nikiforov couldn’t possibly be in a grimy rundown place like this.

Yuuri soon found his size for skates and tied them on. He removed his suit jacket and tie while he untucked his shirt from his pants. When he removed his glasses and set them off to the side the world became a little blurry. The skates were odd on his feet as they were not his skates he brought with him from home and they felt a bit different. He touched the blade on the ice and skated over to where Victor was. The CEO appeared to be pleased as he began skating a bit in front of Yuuri as if to encourage him to begin moving.

Once Yuuri began moving to skate, Victor moved away to the opposite side of the ice to give Yuuri space. Soon, Yuuri began adjusting and he began performing bits and pieces of routines he remembered in the back of his mind. His body moved easily, albeit a little stiff, and he would switch from skating forwards to backwards in between simple jumps.

At one moment, Yuuri had been so lost in thought that when he performed a triple toe loop, he heard Victor let out a surprised shout as he was landing. He blinked and lost his focus as he saw his boss’s figure smack in front of him. He collided with Victor who reached his arms out at the same time to catch the younger man.

Victor let out an ‘oof” sound and Yuuri felt the hard and toned muscle of Victor’s chest, abs, and arms as he fell into them. He did not hit the ice as the strong arms steadied him, but the right side of his face pressed firmly against Victor’s chest. The CEO’s heart was fast from exertion but overall steady and unflustered.

Yuuri reeled back and the pair stared at each other for a brief moment before they busted out into laughter. The laughter that resembled chimes was deeper than Yuuri had ever heard it, but it sounded so carefree and genuine that Yuuri’s laughter mimicked it in its own way. His day was improving and he was relieved. However, he was worried if he had accidentally knocked Victor too hard.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Nikiforov, I should’ve been paying attention,” Yuuri apologized.

“Victor,” the CEO said as he slowly came down from laughing.

“What?”

“I’d prefer if you’d call me Victor,” He restated more clearly and Yuuri blinked before nodding his head.

The two of them began skating together rather than apart. Victor’s actions were playful in comparison to Yuuri’s more reserved movements. Victor would grab Yuuri’s hand and pull in order to spin him while Yuuri would laugh. Yuuri at one pair had pulled away from Victor and the CEO had an expression of disappointment on his face as the assistant skated away.

Yuuri skated to the opposite side of the rink before skating swiftly back over to Victor. There was a mask of confusion on the other’s face as the younger closed the distance and performed a hockey stop. The ice sprayed Victor and the victim let out a surprised sound. The shaved ice caked onto platinum hair and the shirt Victor was wearing. The ice covered his chin like a beard and Yuuri attempted to suppress a snicker.

Victor blinked before a mischievous look crossed his face. He flicked a small amount of the shaved ice onto Yuuri before chasing him. Yuuri was smaller and quicker, but Victor had longer legs with thick muscle that was able to propel him further in order to reach the assistant to grab him. With a handful of shaved ice, he shoved it down the back of Yuuri’s dress shirt. A startled squeak tore from Yuuri’s throat.

The pair of them fell back into skating together once more. Over the course of the time they spent together, they developed their own routine naturally. Victor held the more dominant role as Yuuri followed his lead in order to gauge which move was going to be next. Most of it was step sequences with the occasional jumps. Rarely would they do jumps with more than two rotations.

Victor soon skated a safe distance away from Yuuri as he explained he was going to perform a quad. Yuuri halted and moved off towards to the side in order to give him plenty of space. Victor made a few laps around the rink in order to build up momentum. Yuuri watched on with fascination and excitement.

Victor got in position to perform a quadruple flip as he kept his momentum on the ice. The jump was performed flawlessly and so elegantly that Yuuri was taken aback and overjoyed at the sight, but something worried him. As Victor touched down on his right foot, an expression of pain etched on his face that was so brief that Yuuri would have missed it if he blinked.

The expression of pain was a brief grimace while his sky blue eyes flashed. Yuuri noticed that when Victor stood upright again and began moving forward, the right foot appeared to be lamer while the left foot seemed to take all the weight. Victor expressed nothing of the pain and when Yuuri casually asked if Victor wanted to continue, he responded yes.

Yuuri knew he was lying as the lameness, although it improved a bit, was still present. He noticed the slight differences such as the speed at which Victor skated was slower than before and how he avoided jumping and step sequences. Yuuri had asked several more times, but the man only smiled and shook his head.

With a resigned sigh, Yuuri knew he was going to have to put a stop to their fun in order to make sure Victor did not push himself any further. With half the momentum needed, he attempted to perform a triple axel. Since he did not have enough momentum, the jump was weak and lacked the height he needed. His foot landed unsteadily and he collapsed to the ice as he braced his shoulders to take the brunt of the fall.

Victor was quick to react as he swiftly skated over to Yuuri’s side, “ _Yuuri_! Are you okay? Did you hit your head?”

He rubbed his shoulder but waved off the concerns, “I think I’m done for the day.”

The CEO assisted him in getting him to the bleachers where Makkachin was. The both of them sat down to undo their skates. During the time Yuuri was unlacing his skates, his glasses that he had placed back on had fallen off and landed on the floor. He reached down to get them the same moment Victor had removed his skate and his sweatpants leg rolled up slightly. That is when he saw the reasoning behind the expression of pain earlier.

On the back of his leg above the sock was a scar that extended an unknown length. It peeked out from the sock but disappeared underneath the pant leg. The noticeable part of the scar was a light healed pink color although it was puffy. Yuuri’s thoughts were racing while he placed on his shoes as the information suddenly fit and he thought back to something he had read a long time ago.

In an article released about 3 years after Yuuri committed himself to business while having a hobby in figure skating, it stated that Victor Nikiforov was going to retire from competitive figure skating. Yuuri remembered rereading the article a thousand times in order to find out why, but there was never a solid explanation. Most just summed it up to business because that is when the company took off and Victor was 21 at the time. After seeing the scar, Yuuri had a sick feeling in his stomach as he most likely just figured out the reasoning behind the sudden quit. There was a sad feeling in his gut that was mixed with pity, yet he never said or asked any questions.

If Victor never wanted to express the reasoning behind his action of quitting, Yuuri had no place to ask now. So, with a smile, he took Victor’s hand as the other pulled him to his feet from the bleachers and the pair of them walked back outside with Makkachin to return to the Nikiforov Tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this silly chapter! One of my favorite chapters to write will be coming up next and I can't wait!
> 
> See everyone soon!
> 
> -Eden (part of biggestrainbow on Tumblr)


	6. Birthday...Surprise?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back everyone and sorry for waiting a month! Here's a new chapter and I think it is one of the or if the longest chapter so far!

The knocking on the door awoke Yuuri from his slumber. At first, he thought back to his earlier experience and thought he was late, but much to his surprise, it was an hour before he was supposed to get up to work. With slight annoyance and curiosity to figure at who was at the door at this hour, he pulled down his shirt that had rolled up when he slept and adjusted his sweatpants before opening the door.

Yuuri was startled to find Leo, Guang-Hong, and Phichit at the door already dressed for work with their arms behind their backs like they were hiding something. He rechecked the clock on his phone in his pocket before tilting his head with an inquisitive look. The three men grinned before they revealed what they had behind their backs.

“Happy birthday, Yuuri!” They bellowed and before Yuuri could respond, there was an angry Russian woman that shouted in her native language due to the disruptions in the early morning hours.

Yuuri gestured for them to come inside and the three of them followed to the kitchen of his apartment. Yuuri was able to get a good look at what the three of them brought him as Phichit placed a cake with strawberries garnished on top. Guang-Hong had placed a present with red wrapping and a yellow bow on the table and Leo handed him a box that was wrapped in blue wrapping and had been messily tied with a red ribbon.

“Oh,” Yuuri breathed, “I forgot it was my birthday today.”

“How can you forget your own birthday?!” Phichit exclaimed.

“Well, out of all of us, Yuuri is the one that isn’t the most celebratory for his birthday,” Guang-Hong pointed out and the others nodded with a hum.

Yuuri was soon encouraged to open his presents from Guang-Hong and Leo. He carefully opened the red box after untying the shimmering gold bow. He removed the wrapping paper which Leo took to the garbage and at the bottom, he found a nice-looking watch and a burgundy scarf. Leo’s gift was a track jacket that appeared similar to the Japanese figure skating jackets that were black with a blue trim.

Phichit was quick to explain that his present wasn’t going to be revealed until after they got off work. This made Yuuri raise a worried eyebrow as Phichit’s gifts always tended to be something extreme or out of the ordinary so the other man could document it. Last year it was skydiving and Yuuri deemed that the worst of the lot.

Despite it being in the early morning hours, the four of them enjoyed the sponge cake with strawberries. The sugar woke Yuuri right up and the four of them were having idle conversations over a cup of coffee. The atmosphere was friendly as Yuuri’s three friends were describing their work and how they often get to work together.

“It’s a shame we don’t see any time other than lunch or dinner, Yuuri,” Guang-Hong stated with a tad bit of disappointment.

“Just what do you do in that office all day?” Leo asked curiously as he snatched another piece of cake.

“Yeah, tell us what it is like to work with _the_ Victor Nikiforov. You’ve been dodgy about it for the past couple weeks since we started,” Phichit poked Yuuri’s side, “You can’t honestly think we would believe you when all you said all you do is paperwork.”

The moment Yuuri flushed red and rubbed the back of his neck, his three friends knew there were more than Yuuri had previously let on. The personal assistant felt a bit of guilt, but it’s not like he was being dishonest with them for the sake of being dishonest. Rather, he was just lost for words on how to explain everything that’s happened. So, with a sigh, he did.

Yuuri explained everything from Victor’s odd reaction to the suits to the meetings to the business dinners and finally the endeavor that happened last week with Makkachin. He did mention that they figure skated together, but he did keep the detail to himself about the scar he spotted that was on the back of Victor’s leg because that was a detail that was not his to share.

Out of the three of them, Leo took all the information the best as he raised his eyebrows and only offered calm and collected words of surprise. Guang-Hong had offered input here in there and was more reactive than Leo by being more noticeably surprised. Phichit was the most reactive by bursting out reactions along with shouting to anything and everything Yuuri described. For once, Yuuri was glad Minami was not here to listen because although they have become fast friends, Minami would have hit the ceiling at the news and so far, Yuuri could only handle Phichit.

“You got to skate with Victor Nikiforov? How was he in person?” Phichit shrieked with excitement as the photographer was a fan of Victor when the CEO skated before he suddenly retired.

“He was…” Yuuri trailed off as he furrowed his brows, “Careful, unlike before.”

Phichit seemed confused as did the others and the photographer waved his hand as an indication to continue.

“He skated very carefully unlike before,” Phichit made a clicking sound as he put the pieces together, “He skated with great care as if he was skating on thin ice. He wouldn’t perform anything more than double jumps, but there was one moment he did perform a quad flip. Afterward, we were done.”

“That must’ve been boring then,” Leo sipped his drink, but Yuuri rebutted by saying that it was probably the most fun he’s had in a long time.

“Well, perhaps he is just a bit rusty. He did retire, what, 6 years ago? You never want to push yourself right away if you are getting back into the sport; even if it’s just practice.” Phichit offered and even Yuuri agreed, but the image of his scar flashed in his mind, however, he kept his lips sealed.

“Or maybe he just lost his touch,” Leo blatantly said as he ate a forkful of cake.

“Victor has not lost his touch!”

The whole room went silent. Leo stopped mid chew as his rich brown eyes trailed up to Yuuri whose sudden outburst left everyone shocked. Yuuri shrunk back in his seat and he stuttered a bit before he closed his mouth and rubbed the back of his neck. It was an in the moment thing. Victor truly did not lose his touch based off the way the former figure skater expressed himself and how elegant that quad flip was performed like Victor never retired. The passion was still there, screaming to get out, and this made Yuuri even more curious as to the scar on his leg.

Yuuri, however, made a mistake and regrettably, Phichit is of the utmost perceptive.

“…Victor?” Phichit repeated slowly with widened eyes.

“I-I meant Mr. Nikiforov.”

It took about three seconds for Phichit to react. His friend had blinked slowly and opened his mouth a couple of times before nearly flying over the counter to be beside Yuuri. Leo and Guang-Hong watched in stunned silence as they seemed to be putting things together. Phichit was nose to nose with Yuuri as he began his rapid-fire interrogation.

“Is there something going on between you and Mr. Nikiforov?”

“Uh what- “

“Are you and him in a relationship?”

“ _No!_ ” Yuuri exclaimed with disbelief, “Where on earth did you get that?”

Phichit ignored him, “Do you like him?”

“He’s a pretty nice boss.”

“You’re so innocent sometimes, Yuuri,” He sighed, “I mean do you like him romantically?”

There was a deafening silence as Yuuri’s three friends stared at him expectantly. Yuuri’s eyes grew owlish as he fumbled over his words. Having a crush on his boss was something he never really thought about. In fact, it was something he should _never_ think about. Yes, Victor was a joy to be around and was easy to make him smile, but he was his boss.

“No, it’s just that he was my idol, you know?” Yuuri explained, “He’s amazing to be around and he’s more than I imagined him being as a boss. He’s generous, a great figure skater, kind, intelligent, and-“

“You sure you don’t have a crush on him?” Guang-Hong giggled.

“I am sure I don’t have a crush on my _boss_!”

“Who cares if he’s your boss?” Leo shrugged.

“It’d be wrong to have a crush on my boss!”

“Or are you just worried that he’s a man?”

“No definitely not that.”

Yuuri, of course, had no problem with it. He was never one to care about the gender of any romantic interests as he saw it as if he liked a person then he liked them regardless of gender. His eye did stray from women and wander every now and then at a men’s physique. Yuuri would admit there were times he appreciated Victor’s attractiveness. He also had no issue with men dating other men either. Proof of that was his encouragement of Guang-Hong and Leo’s relationship.

After re-explaining that Victor was his boss and anything that may appear like he had a crush on him was just his admiration for his idol, the trio dropped the subject. Yuuri soon changed into a navy blue suit and black tie before walking out of his apartment to the car that they all shared. Yuuri was quiet on the way to work as his mind was swimming.

He enjoyed Victor’s company, that was all. Yuuri also wasn’t one to have a simple crush on people. He never had flings or one-night stands as he never wanted to be with someone he knew he or the other person had no intention of continuing past a certain point. Those types of relationships were not worth his time even though he had never really been in many relationships.

Yuuri shook his head. It really wasn’t something he should be thinking about right now.

Victor was 10 minutes “late” this morning although the CEO had no set time he should arrive. However, the personal assistant did notice a pattern of the man arriving at work between 8 and 10 o clock. Going from appearances, Victor had overslept. The detail was subtle, but his platinum hair was slightly tousled. Yuuri’s theory was correct as Victor confirmed it with an apology that his alarm had not gone off at its usual time.

Yuuri worked in silence for the majority of the morning. Victor had given him quite the workload since the business dinner as all the plans were in motion. His hand was beginning to bruise from having to cram files in tight places and his fingers were beginning to cramp from typing so much information onto his laptop continuously. The CEO seemed to pick up on Yuuri’s discomfort and called for him.

“Yes, Victor?” It had been a week since the time they spent together, but expressing the CEO’s first name had soon become second nature in private encounters. At first, it had rolled off his tongue rather awkwardly and other times Victor chastised him and reminded him that he could drop the professional title away as long as others were not present in the office.

“Give me your hand.”

The tone in which Victor had said it was more of a command than a suggestion. Gingerly he took the hand that Yuuri had offered to him and turned his hand so the palm was facing upwards. Victor lacked gloves this day so the CEO’s cool fingertips chilled Yuuri’s relatively warm palm. The touch sent a slight chill up Yuuri’s arm as he watched with mild curiosity as Victor’s fingers began to press and form small circles.

Yuuri’s curiosity transformed into astonishment as he realized that his boss was massaging his hand. Yuuri could feel his muscles in his hand begin to uncramp and loosen to the point of relaxation. Sky blue eyes were focused on the task, but his mouth opened and he spoke.

“If you’re wondering, I did this when I played the violin.”

It was odd that Victor always seemed to know what Yuuri was thinking or when something was on his mind. Yet, it was always difficult for Yuuri to figure out Victor. Usually, though, the CEO was ready to offer information about himself if asked and did not seem to hesitate.

“I noticed in the car on the way to the dinner that your hand had mimicked fingerings for a violin or another string instrument.”

Victor’s attention began to direct onto Yuuri, “Did you play?”

“Violin? No,” Yuuri began, “I only recognized it because I played piano and I would be required to accompany violinists for their performances and while we would wait, they would finger along to the song since they could not play.”

Victor seemed to recognize that he had used a past tense, “How long did you play the piano?”

“Just my junior high and high school years since they required a pianist. I was undecided at the time so they placed me there. How long have you played the violin?”

“Since I was about 6. My mother had insisted I have a musical side even if my father didn’t agree,” He spoke in a nostalgic tone, “Yet, my mother wore him down just like she did for figure skating at the same time and when that happened I received a tutor.”

Yuuri dared not to interrupt him. Not for the sake of being polite, but this was something Yuuri never knew about the CEO and he wasn’t going to risk losing the story because he opened his mouth. Victor let out a brief laugh as he grabbed Yuuri’s other hand and began massaging it with a firm but ginger touch.

“The tutor was brutal, but she did her job. I’d have to play and play until I got it right 5 times in a row and when I would do that I would have to do it 10 more times. She did, however, massage my hand like this because it would be so sore afterward. I found it quite useful, don’t you agree?”

Victor pulled his hands away and Yuuri turned his wrist a couple of times before flexing his hand. His hand tingled, however, it did not feel unpleasant but rather rejuvenated. His muscles that were tense had become loose and flexible as they were free of cramps. He smiled and entwined his hands together before nodded his head.

“Thank you very much,” Yuuri expressed earnestly.

From Yuuri’s knowledge, Victor was single. He had never seen the man with another in his office. He received no phone calls that required him to step out of the room. The assistant also never received any calls from a strange person that would require him to direct the call to the CEO nor was he told that his boss would be leaving early for a date. All he seemed to do was work.

If Victor did have a partner, Yuuri thought, he knew that the CEO would be a kind person that would take care of the one he held affections for. Victor already provided a new wardrobe for him and massaged his hand when it was sore. Yuuri couldn’t even imagine the extent the man would do for someone he had affections for.

To Yuuri’s surprise, the thought of that caused an unsettling weight in his stomach that he could not describe or place. He shrugged and pushed it away before leaving to start his work.

* * *

 

Yuuri was soon invited to bring his paperwork to Victor’s desk. The pair worked together in silence for the most part. Yuuri would listen to Victor speak on the phone to other executives about trivial things to which the CEO would only hum. He appeared relatively bored on the phone and the assistant could hear the executives asking simple questions such as procedures about 50 times over.

When lunch arrived, they ate together. Victor was going to take his leave and allowed Yuuri to eat in peace, but the assistant insisted he join him. Victor didn’t have much, only half a sandwich and water compared to Yuuri who had precooked his meals ahead of time.

“Did you wake up late and not have time to grab a proper lunch?”

Victor glanced up and shrugged guiltily, “I was only able to grab what was in my fridge. Usually, I call ahead of time to have something prepared, but I fell asleep early and overslept.”

Yuuri offered some of his beef stroganoff he had made. Cooking was something he particularly enjoyed in his free time at their family business and he would often cook with his mother when they made dinner. Since he arrived in Russia, he picked up a few recipes from online he wanted to try.

Victor put the fork to his lips and Yuuri had a sense of anxiety on whether the food would taste good to the CEO. It was the first time he had made it and he wasn’t sure he had gotten it quite right. From his knowledge, beef stroganoff was a Russian dish which Victor was most likely accustomed to eating.

Victor murmured something in Russian that sounded almost wistful before reverting to English, “It’s been a while since I’ve had this.”

Beef stroganoff could be placed over noodles or rice on the recipe and Yuuri had chosen rice. He knew the way in which he made it wasn’t the most traditional “Russian way” of making the dish as it was probably an Americanized version. However, Victor smiled with the fork still in his mouth.

“It’s very good, Yuuri,” He praised, “I won’t sugarcoat that I have had better, but you must understand I grew up on the passed down recipes of this dish.”

If he could name one thing he admired about his boss, it was his honesty. Yes, at times Yuuri would question on whether or not he should feel offended, such as Victor’s statement on his fashion sense, but he found it a great quality nonetheless. Victor wasn’t afraid to say what he felt and Yuuri had also expected such an answer. He knew his first attempt at making beef stroganoff wasn’t going to be award winning. He wasn’t a professional chef after all.

They fell into another comfortable silence as they ate. Yuuri could feel his phone vibrating his pocket, no doubt his friends wondering where he is. There was no awkwardness, no suffocating silences. They simply sat across from each other and ate peacefully. Occasionally, if chestnut eyes met sky blue, Victor’s lips would quirk upwards into a genuine smile.

“Why of all things did you chose to be an assistant?” Victor soon asked aloud and Yuuri glanced up. “I reread your file and even if you had become an intern, you still would’ve chosen to be an assistant in the future. I’ve seen you handle situations that easily trouble people of a higher position and you also can get along with others.”

Yuuri merely shrugged, “I suppose I am not confident enough to take such a high position. I am not great in large crowds as I get nervous, especially if I have to speak in front of them. I just thought that if I was the person to the side, everyone would be paying attention to them and not me and I’d have fewer things to worry about.”

Victor hummed thoughtfully, “If you ever decide to change your mind, I’m sure I could find a suitable position for you here.”

“Thank you,” the assistant grinned, but shook his head ever so slightly, “However, I enjoy my position here so I do not think that would be rather necessary.”

The CEO hummed again, this time it sounded almost like he was pleased. To be fairly honest, even if Yuuri had not been working too long, he loved his job here. Victor was a kind person and wonderful to be around as he had never had the feeling of wanting to rip his hair out like he had previously from old coworkers. He did not know how long his position would last by the CEO’s side, but he would cherish it.

* * *

 

Dinner was not until 8 since everyone was allotted to arrive a few hours later, the normal hours were pushed to even it out. Yuuri had planned to work until 10 today despite starting work at his usual time since Phichit and the others insisted they start on their usual time and ignore the option of coming in late. It wasn’t necessarily an awful thing either, Yuuri regrettably admitted, since he had a stack of paperwork that hit the ceiling.

He told Victor that he would return with dinner for the both of them shortly. Yuuri would figure out where he would order food on the way as he was simply going to take a stroll down the street and observe the places to eat. He put on his coat and scarf before he headed out into the cold with his wallet tucked in his pocket as he whistled.

A black limousine that looked vaguely familiar to him pulled up beside him. Yuuri ignored it at first until the door popped open and Phichit stuck his head out. When the door opened all the way, he saw there was a group of people inside. Through the darkness and to his great surprise, he was startled to see Minami driving and Leo, Guang-Hong, Mila, Sara, and Phichit all sitting in the back.

“Yuuri! Get in!”

The puzzled personal assistant approached the limo that pulled up to the curb to get out of the way of traffic. His hands were in his coat pockets as he leaned forward to face the group who all smiled to him. However, there was a mischievous air about that made Yuuri want to back up a couple of steps, but he stayed still.

“I have work,” Yuuri spoke, his voice a little muffled by the scarf.

“Come on, Yuuri! It’s your birthday!” Mila shouted and pouted like it would charm Yuuri enough to get in the car.

“I really can’t, I was going to grab dinner and head back to the office.”

Minami twisted his head back and glanced at his watch, “We’re running behind schedule! If we want to make it to Diamonds by the time it opens, we have to leave now!”

At the mention of Diamonds, everyone in the back shushed him loudly, “It’s supposed to be a surprise, Minami!”

“Diamonds?” Yuuri repeated. Now, where has he heard that name before?

Then it hit him.

Oh.

Oh, _no_.

From what Yuuri recalled, Diamonds was a strip club. In fact, it was a high-end strip club as far as strip clubs went. Yuuri didn’t even have to think twice before he knew it was Phichit’s idea. This must’ve been the present Phichit had been talking about earlier. Now Yuuri had never been to a strip club and he was going to keep that streak going.

He let out a small laugh, but he made a sudden attempt at an escape. As if expecting this, the group leapt out of the car and snatched at Yuuri’s coat. Phichit held him by the waist and began dragging him backward. Mila and Sara had him by the arms as they carefully avoided being smacked in the face by his failing while the others had a hold on his coat.

Yuuri, to the best of his ability, struggled with all his might, but he knew one person wasn’t going to beat 5 others. His dress shoes had no traction on the snow-covered sidewalk. He appeared to be running in place to any onlookers before the lack of traction caused him to slip. He braced his weight on his hands which were scraped by the concrete and luckily he did not fall on his face.

Mila and Sara let go of his arms before grabbing his ankles as they dragged him backward into the van. To any bystanders, it may have looked like an abduction which is why he struggled to the best of his ability but did not shout. The last thing he needed was police arriving.

The 5 managed to drag him into the limo. Yuuri was panting on the floor as the rest let him go, but his ears did prick when he heard the locking of the doors as Minami began to drive. With a resigned sigh, he gave up and let his head thump against the floor.

“Don’t you all have work to do?” Yuuri said in between pants, “I don’t want you all fired.”

“Why do you think we came in the normal time rather than coming in a few hours later?” Mila pointed out, “Even if we were to get in trouble for leaving, which the 5 of us won’t because we already clocked out, we would still have worked enough hours in the day to lessen the punishment.”

Oh, that was smart, but there was a flaw, “You said the 5 of you were fine. I am going to assume Minami is fine since it's in his job description to drive people around. What about me, though? Does Mr. Nikiforov know?”

The thought that his boss knew where he was going horrified him, but the shaking of his friends’ heads relieved him.

“Nope, but you worked enough hours, so he shouldn’t mind too much,” Mila stated with a shrug of her shoulders.

The ride to the club was not too long, but not too short. Yuuri nearly wished it had been longer to prevent the arrival. His brows furrowed in agony as he pictured the possible outcomes, none of which were pleasant. He knew Phichit knew Yuuri would find no possible pleasure from the experience, but Yuuri also understood his best friend was by no means doing this to be petty or spiteful, rather just as a joke they could remember years from now.

Through the tinted windows, the neon sign for Diamonds illuminated as it flickered to life. The sign itself was by no means conservative and blatantly portrayed what happened inside the club. The neon sign consisted of the establishment’s name and a neon woman wearing hardly anything in a sitting position with her leg raised and back arched.

To Yuuri’s immense surprise, there were other limos dropping off wealthy guests under the archway that leads directly to the front doors. However, to his chagrin, it was now his turn to get out of his only safe zone at the moment. To save himself the embarrassment, he walked out with his head ducked and was going to make his way to the back of the line that was forming. Phichit had snatched his collar.

Phichit pointed to Mila and Sara, who at the moment were making their way to the bouncer. The bouncer brightened as his eyes fell upon them, a flash of familiarity in his green eyes, and he greeted the two women. He was broad and well built, more or less on the stocky side, but he softened a bit as he talked to Mila and Sara.

The two girls turned and pointed over to where Yuuri and the others were standing on the sidewalk. Mila was speaking in swift Russian, rather elegantly Yuuri might add, while Sara’s Russian was a bit choppy. He soon nodded his head and Mila patted him on the chest before beckoning the group towards the front door.

The bouncer called his coworker over to take his place. Yuuri followed Phichit as they were led to the establishment to a more private sector in the back. Despite it’s more secluded location, the spot was not isolated from the events near the stage and the bar as it seemed to teeter on the border of privacy and bare minimum contact. Yuuri chose his seat in the corner after removing his scarf and coat.

Not very long after, groups of men after men started filling into the club. The music was blaring a deep sensual baseline that crawled underneath Yuuri’s skin. After a certain number of people entered, one by one the women walked on stage that had a walkway directly to the bar and other sectors.

The women were all dressed in various scandalous outfits that were covered by thin sheer clothing that was peeled off seductively which left the women in little to nothing. The men cheered, but Yuuri embarrassingly kept his gaze to the floor as he was suddenly interested on the laces of his dress shoes. Phichit was already taking pictures of Yuuri’s reactions, captioning them things such as “Innocent Yuuri!”, “We haven’t even been here for 2 minutes and he’s already blushing,”, “Looks like a grown man, but is actually a school boy,”, and things of the sort.

Mila and Sara were dancing to the music with each other. To Yuuri’s shock, which simmered down after half a second because as he thought about it, he really shouldn’t be _too_ surprised, Mila and Sara were dancing like high schoolers at a dance or adults at a bar. They drew attention to themselves from the other men around, but they could hardly care less. Yuuri smiled slightly at this because at least _they_ were having fun.

A quick glance over to where Leo and Guang-Hong were expressed that they were already regretted including themselves here. The two were rather sheepish, but they ignored their surroundings and only focused on each other. They held each other’s hands as a silently signal to any of the women that they were definitely more interested in each other than a dance from one of them.

The dancers began patrolling the club, looking for any lonely men for them to tend to as a mean for payment. They also did not hesitate when a man or group of men called them over. On a few occasions, the dancers would approach their group to speak with Mila. Mila would speak in Russian to them and sip a beer in the process. Yuuri noted they seemed to be well acquainted.

No dancers approached Yuuri, however, because he was so tense and his gaze gave no signal of welcome. One brunette dancer had actually made eye contact with him but sent him a sympathetic look as if she understood he was not here on his own free will. After the dancer left Mila, Yuuri called the red head over.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Mila teased which earned her expected reaction of a stern glare.

“Do you know everyone here? How’d you even get us back here in the first place? This seems to be the nicest spot.”

She took another casual sip of her beer, “Oh, the bouncer was an old friend of mine who happens to be the son of the owner. The girl who I just spoke to was my dorm mate in college before she switched from a business major to a stripper. I landed her a job here.”

Yuuri nodded his head dumbly. A moment later, he watched as Mila reached into her pocket for her phone. She answered and walked away out of earshot. He saw he make several amused expressions on the phone and every now and then would glance his direction. Her eyes then flickered upwards before her lips pulled into a smile and that smile turned into a Cheshire-like grin. She chuckled and began making her way back as she ended the call.

“Oh, Yuuri~,” A seductive voice rang in a song like tone.

Yuuri tensed as the voice called his name. His head turned and his eyes followed the woman approaching him with Phichit in tow. The woman was wearing hardly anything, and what she was wearing left little to the imagination. What she was wearing was akin to a bikini, but far more complicated. There were straps around her thighs connected to the waist and the sheer fabric of it all practically exposed her.

Yuuri’s heart nearly stopped beating. In fact, he didn’t think he would mind if it did. He might even prefer it.

* * *

 

Victor sat at his desk calmly. He was gazing out the window that made up the side wall while he patted Makkachin’s head which was gently resting in his lap. He vaguely acknowledged the rumbling in his stomach from hunger and the hunger seemed to spur his thoughts even further.

Just where was Yuuri?

Sky blue eyes flickered down to his pale wrist that adorned a watch. The watch ticked and told him it was precisely 9:32 pm. His lips pulled into a slight frown as his brows furrowed. His personal assistant had left an hour and a half ago to grab them dinner to continue their time together. The fact he wasn’t back by now confused him.

From what Victor gathered in the short time Yuuri was his personal assistant, the man proved to be punctual even though on some mornings his appearance could tell someone he woke up later than intended. He was always on time when he said was going to be, if not even slightly early, and carried out tasks with relative and impressive swiftness. Usually, when he would retrieve food for lunch or dinner previously, he was always back within a span of 20 minutes.

This actually concerned Victor a bit. He summed it down to two possibilities: that Yuuri was either lost or kidnapped. He didn’t think the kind assistant could do anything to be arrested and he also didn’t think it was Yuuri’s way of saying he’s quitting. After all, he said he enjoyed this position and their day together had made the PA smile a great deal.

Thinking he shouldn’t wait further, he pulled out his work phone. He scrolled through his contacts to find the one labeled _Yuuri Katsuki, PA_ that had been added not too long ago. Yuuri had received his new work cell phone with the instructions that if anyone were to call it, he should pick up. Victor pressed the phone to is ear and listened for it to ring.

His lips pulled into a deeper frown when it went to voicemail. He thought for a moment before he turned to face his computer. He entered his password in a few times in the selected areas and pulled up the page that listed when workers clocked out for the day to see if Yuuri had left without permission or had gone to the buildings care center in case he didn’t feel well and was then told to go home by the physician.

Blue eyes scanned the page towards the bottom for the more recent clock out times. To his bewilderment, Yuuri’s name was not on the list. However, his eyes did catch onto a group of names that peaked his interest. All of them clocked out at the same time and 3 of them happened to be the paid interns that knew Yuuri.

_Phichit Chulanont, 7:50 pm._

_Leo de la Iglesia, 7:50 pm._

_Guang- Hong Ji, 7:50 pm._

_Mila Babicheva, 7:50 pm._

_Sara Crispino, 7:50 pm._

After seeing those five names and noting that it had to be no coincidence, he reached into his pocket for his personal phone. His concerned now morphed into distaste as he waited on Mila to pick up the phone since he heard from Mila that she had befriended Yuuri rather quickly. About 3 rings later, he heard a feminine voice over the line as well as heavy music.

“ _Hello? What is it, Victor?”_

“Mila, why aren’t you at work?”

There was a slight laugh, “ _I’m celebrating. I also worked enough hours, so if you are going to chide me for that, don’t.”_

A quick glance over to the computer screen proved she was correct and this applied to the other four as well.

“I know the other four are with you. Yuuri is also missing so I am going to assume he is with you.”

“ _You assumed correctly, but not so willingly,”_ Mila stated before she added, “ _I thought there was another side to him other than his innocent one. Yet, his innocent side is cute.”_

Victor knew from conversations he has had with Mila that when she said “another side” to a person, she was generally referring to it in a sexual way. Now along with wondering where Yuuri was, he was now wondering what exactly Mila was doing with him.

“Just what are you doing?” He asked a bit impatiently.

“ _As I said we are celebrating!”_ Mila exclaimed and in her tone of voice he could detect that the red head had consumed a bit of alcohol, it was merry than usual.

“What are you celebrating?” Over the phone, he could hear what he thought was Sara saying hello.

“ _Yuuri’s birthday of course! Didn’t you know that was today?”_

Victor was confused and shocked at the same time. His distaste vanished. Yuuri had never mentioned anything about his birthday being today. He was silent on the phone for a minute before he told Mila that he had not known it was his personal assistant’s birthday.

“ _Well, I’m not too surprised. His other friends told me his birthday was today rather than him. His friends said he’s not the biggest celebratory person around because he doesn’t want people to fuss.”_

“So, where are you celebrating?”

Victor could hear her snicker over the line, “ _Diamonds._ _It was my idea since his friend, Phichit, wanted something memorable to document.”_

The CEO sat stunned for a minute and didn’t reply right away. He felt unsettled all of a sudden and rubbed the back of his neck. Mila soon spoke again before he could say anything. This time she seemed excited.

“ _Oh, Victor, I have to go so I don’t miss this! Yuuri is about to get a lap dance!”_

The line went dead a second later.

Suddenly, Victor wasn’t hungry anymore.

* * *

 

The woman started stalking towards him with a swing of her hips. Yuuri gulped audibly as his mouth suddenly ran dry. Judging by the look on Phichit’s face, he knew his best friend was behind all of this. Phichit gave him a thumbs up with a smile and then proceeded to take pictures.

The woman sat on Yuuri’s lap and to his surprise, the woman quietly asked him if he consented to the lap dance seeing as he was nervous and embarrassed. Not wanting to waste Phichit’s money that was spent for the joke and knowing it would be the one and _only_ time this was ever going to happen, he nodded his head albeit reluctantly.The woman, who he learned went by the name 

The woman, who he learned went by the stage name Lioness, reverted back to her previous role. She straddled him while her hips began rocking and her hands expertly began looking for any sensitive spots on the upper part of his body. She raised herself to press her chest against his face and Yuuri could feel his face getting impossibly redder by the second. Lioness moved in time with the music and ran her hands through Yuuri's hair as she pushed the strands out of his face. 

"You know, you look really good with your hair back," She whispered in his ear.

In between her moving her hips and grinding against him, she reached for his hands that were tightly grasping that sides of the chair. He made no indication or movement to touch her, but her hands pulled his away from the chair and began guiding them down the front to cup her breast. She then guided his hands around to her back and moved them down to her rear. When she let go, his hands rested there for a brief second before he removed them with little hesitation. Lioness then stood and brushed her curly golden hair from her face before standing from his lap. 

She moved behind him and he could feel her breasts press against the back of her head. She began undoing his tie and the first few buttons of his shirt before trailing her down his chest and dangerously close to his crotch. He let out a small sound of surprising when he felt her nibble on his ear lobe. She moved back to straddle him again while using the undone tie to pull him forward. She was about to speak before a voice cut through the air.

"That's enough."

Lioness's brown eyes flickered with annoyance. Yuuri, however, could feel all the color drain out of his face as he recognized the voice. His friends behind him who were previously making comments went silent. Only Mila seemed amused. 

Victor stood in front of him. His sky blue eyes were unreadable, but they surely did not look amused. His lips were pursed and he had his arms crossed over his chest. He was still dressed in his suit and tie that he wore to work that morning. His gaze was on Yuuri only and chestnut eyes fell to the floor as he could not bare to look at him. Victor tapped his foot impatiently as his gaze shifted from Yuuri to the woman currently sitting in his lap.

This was the absolute worse case scenario for Yuuri. He could feel the panic rise in his throat which left him unable to say anything to his boss that currently stood 4 feet away from him. He was surely fired now. 

Lioness soon removed herself from Yuuri before walking over to Victor with annoyance still plastered on her face. Victor soon matched her annoyance as she approached him.

"You can't just stop one of my performances, Victor."

Yuuri was surprised that she knew him by name. So he has been here before. He wondered if was as a patron or, like Mila with the other woman, if he knew her personally.

"I can stop it if the receiver looks uncomfortable," Victor replied, unamused.

"He consented. You wasted my valuable time. "

Victor's eyebrow twitched with irritation. He then reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet and handed her an uncertain amount of money. She did not even count the cash before she walked away.

Yuuri did not even get the opportunity to say anything to his boss before he strode past him after his eyes scanned the club. Yuuri sat there in silence with his head hung and his muscles unbelievably tight from being so tense. A moment later, the lights flickered on and over the speakers, everyone was told to their dismay that the club would be closing in 5 minutes.

Yuuri heard Mila chortle and say in disbelief to herself, "He did not..."

Victor soon appeared in front of Yuuri again. The look on his face had softened as he stared down at the embarrassed and nervous black haired assistant. He offered his hand to Yuuri.

"Come with me."

He was pulled to his feet in one swift motion. Yuuri followed Victor outside and down the sidewalk to the parking lot. On his way out he could hear Mila and Sara laughing hysterically. The pair made their way to a sleek black luxury car that had Makkachin in it. Minami was parked nearby and was standing outside to pet Makkachin through the open window.

"Yuuri," Victor said and Yuuri recoiled as he saw a disappointed expression on the CEO's face.

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?"

Yuuri's head snapped up. Victor's blue eyes were staring at him expectantly for an answer and his eyes held a little bit of disappointment and hurt in them. With a little bit of surprise mixed in his voice, he answered him.

"I didn't think it was important to tell you that. I didn't think it mattered either. It's just my 24th birthday. There's nothing too special about it."

"I would've gotten you something if I knew. Not a lap dance, that's for sure, but something," The last bit came out in a playful banter and Yuuri smiled a little bit with relief as he knew everything was okay.

Victor soon reached in his pocket and took out his wallet again. His fingers then plucked out a single card that Yuuri recognized as the CEO's personal business card. Victor pulled out a pen and wrote something on the back of it before handing it over to Yuuri.

Chestnut brown eyes examined the card and read the handwriting. All that was written was another phone number that looked foreign to Yuuri. He glanced up with a tilt of his head.

"It's my personal phone number. If there is anything you need, and I mean anything, just call me and I will be there," He said softly and earnestly.

Yuuri thanked him and stared at the card that he held in between two fingers. He remembered Minami giving him something this before, but this was different. Yuuri did not know to explain it, but he just knew it was. It felt different. It was a good different, though. It felt nice, safe even.

And that feeling alone was enough to make him smile. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sidenote about the time thing before anyone asks. I was going to do the 24-hour clock for accuracy, but to make it easier on some and myself because I might have too many time inconsistencies I just left it alone.
> 
> I am so sorry you guys had to wait more than a month for an update. I try to write when I can, but I've had a rollercoaster of things going on between registering for college and others I can't really discuss. 
> 
> Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter. I would just like to thank all of you again for reading this fic and all the nice comments you have left! (:
> 
> I am also writing another Victuuri fic titled Crossfire. Yuuri, Katsuki PA is my main priority and Crossfire will be updated whenever I can.  
> -Eden (biggestrainbow on tumblr)


	7. Shall We?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy oh boy I am so sorry this took so long. I fell into a bad state of mind this past couple of months and didn't feel like writing as I was too worried about college stuff and other things that aren't really great to explain. My computer was also having difficulties to the point where I could not even access it. 
> 
> I also had difficulties with someone about fanart on Tumblr that is tiring to explain. However, I was told recently that I would be receiving fanart that is from the legitimate person which I am so excited for!
> 
> Here is the new chapter though and I hope you enjoy!
> 
> PS I realized I spelled Emil Nekola's last name as Nikola and going on the basis of complaints, I am going to make sure it's spelled "Nekola". Though for those who want Victor spelled as "Viktor", it's too late for me to change it although I do spell it as "Viktor", but for the sake of the majority, I spell it as Victor.

Yuuri blearily awoke to the birds chirping loudly outside of his window and the sun blinding him since he forgot to shut the curtains before he fell asleep. He rolled over onto the opposite side so the sun beat on his back instead of his face as he reached for his phone. He clicked it on to view the time which told him it was 9:43 in the morning; albeit blurry since he did not have his glasses on.

He squinted for a moment as he thought if it was a work day or not, but to his relief, it was Sunday. He was thankful for this as he thought about the events which transpired yesterday. He grimaced as he would have to apologize and thank Victor for helping him. However, he would have to save it for tomorrow, even if that wasn’t entirely necessary.

Victor had given him his personal phone number. Yuuri could shoot him a quick text and get it over with, but the thought unsettled him. He did not want to bother Victor on his day off, nor did he want to currently remind him that he had to save his PA from a situation Yuuri thought he would _never_ be in.

His mind made up, he instead used his phone to look at the news and social media as he sipped his morning tea. He nibbled on his one toaster waffle - which reminded him that he really needed to go shopping for proper breakfast foods- as he gazed out his balcony. Yuuri pondered on what he should do on his day off.

It had snowed even more last night and the ground was far too icy for his liking to go for a run. Last time he did that, he slid on a particularly icy portion of the sidewalk and right into a snowbank. He did not know whether he could run anytime soon as the news on his phone alerted him of a possible snowstorm that was predicted to have a good amount of snowfall.

His eyes scanned the streets and from a distance, he could see the park he normally ran through. The Nikiforov Tower was in his line of sight amongst many other buildings. Yuuri’s eyes soon found a cafe in the distance. It didn’t appear too busy this morning on the outside as people walked past it without a second thought most likely because it was too cold for them to want to sit outside the establishment.

Yuuri, however, had never been there before and with plenty of time on his hands, he went to go change. Since it was not a work day, he simply threw on a thick long sleeve shirt and some comfortable jeans before wrapping a scarf around his neck and buttoning his coat. He lazily tied the new shoes he got before leaving his apartment.

The landlady said hello to him on his way out. She was a nice older woman who he saw with curlers in her hair every morning he would go to work and she liked him especially since he paid rent on time, so on the occasions that his friends were momentarily disruptive in the halls, she let it slide. The other tenants in the building, however, weren’t the friendliest of folk as he carefully walked down the stairs.

Yuuri’s pace was slow and steady when he hit the main sidewalk. His eyes studied the people around him as he walked and didn’t find anything too out of the ordinary. A couple of tourists had stopped him briefly and asked him for directions to a particular hotel which he happily directed them to. In about another 10 minutes, he made it to the cafe.

His earlier judgment had been half right. It wasn’t busy on the outside because it was too cold for most people, but it was bustling with people on the inside who were drinking coffee and nibbling on some food as they blocked out the cold. Deciding he didn’t want to be elbows to elbows with people this early in the morning, he requested a table outside to the surprise of the host.

The host placed him at a table in the corner closer to the sidewalk after brushing off the snow on the chair and table. The cold metal of the chairs could be felt through his clothes, but he ignored it as he ordered a cup of coffee. The coffee actually came out quicker than he anticipated, but the waiter had smiled and told him since he was sitting out in the cold, he needed a warm drink as soon as possible.

The coffee warmed his insides and the warmth made Yuuri feel relaxed as he watched the people walk by. It was peaceful this morning as he did not have to worry about any paperwork or phone calls for the time being. He sipped on his coffee as he observed his surroundings, making note of each and every establishment for future reference just in case he might need something from a particular place.

“Hey, I know you,” A sudden feminine voice said to the right of him.

Pulled out of his thoughts, chestnut brown eyes moved from the buildings to a woman standing a couple of feet away from him. She was dressed rather conservatively like one that would be dressed for a business job. However, it didn’t look like anyone that he knew, so he glanced behind him before turning back around to make sure she was actually addressing him.

 “Yeah, I’m talking to you,” She said with assurance, “You’re that guy I met yesterday at the club. Yuuri, right?”

When she smiled, it all clicked into place for Yuuri. He noted the color of her eyes and her golden hair that was tied back into a ponytail. Compared to yesterday, her makeup was simple instead of extravagant and every inch of skin except for her face was covered with very ordinary brand name clothing that didn’t look too expensive. This took him by surprise because he knew the club and its workers made a great deal of money. If he had passed this woman on the street he surely would not have recognized her.

“Lioness?” 

She nodded her head with a chuckled as she extended out her hand, “Yes, but considering the time and place, it would probably be preferable to call me Leonie. Mind if I sit down?” 

Yuuri gestured for her to sit, but he thought for a minute before he spoke, “Clever for your stage name to be a translation of your actual name.”

She smiled brightly at him again, “Clever for you to figure it out so quickly.”

The waiter had soon noticed Leonie sitting with Yuuri and had come out to take her order. She ordered a coffee and lingonberry pastry. There was silence between the two as Yuuri had no idea what to say, but after the waiter dropped off her order, Leonie spoke.

“I want to apologize to you about yesterday. Victor talked with me afterward and it is never my goal to make anyone uncomfortable. I only meant for you to have a good time and trust me when I say this, but I was about to end it sooner since I noticed it didn’t exactly reciprocate.”

Yuuri flushed a bright red as he had a sudden flashback of yesterday. He waved his hand, “It’s no big deal.” 

Leonie tilted her head as she surveyed Yuuri, “You shouldn’t brush off inconveniences so easily.”

“It’s not really an inconvenience…”

“Well then, suppose it was. You seem to brush off things that trouble you easily and not like a brush to the shoulder type deal, but more like something that pushes you down and you get back up and keep walking type way.”

“Is there a problem with that?”

She shrugged, “No, not particularly. In fact, it’s somewhat admirable. However, there is a flaw in everything and my only suggestion is that you should be careful.”

“Wouldn’t letting things go make things simpler than causing conflict?”

“Sometimes yes, but sometimes no. You need to be careful. If you let go of everything, people will take advantage of you and see no issue with it in the future as you will just let it go. If you let it go, some people will also not even realize they made a mistake because you never told them and let it slip pass their consciousness.”

Yuuri said nothing, but Leonie continued to analyze him. He sipped his coffee nervously as the waiter placed down the cup of coffee had ordered. She took one sip before removing the cup from her lips.

“There’s something you want to ask me now, but you are letting it go. What is it?”

Yuuri raised his eyebrows in response to what she said. She wasn’t wrong, there was something nagging his mind that he didn’t know how to ask nor did he feel like he should. He sighed and quickly said, “How do you know Victor? He seemed really familiar with the place when he walked in.”

Saying Victor’s first name was no slip of the tongue this time. There was something deep down inside him that made him want to say it. That he didn’t want to say it anyway else to Leonie and he didn’t know exactly why, but it just felt right to him. She didn’t comment on it, but the smug look on her face indicated she picked up on it. She took another sip of her coffee before speaking.

“I use to be an intern for him.”

Yuuri inhaled his coffee with surprise and sputtered, “Wh-what?”

“I was an intern for him,” She repeated before continuing, “Unpaid, of course, I was fresh out of college on the program that you took I am assuming. I was the candidate for France at the time but found myself liking Russia as I settled in. Since this internship was unpaid, I needed to find a job. I ended up finding one at Diamonds.”

Yuuri listened intently as she continued, “Well, to my surprise, Victor was a patron there. I shouldn’t have been too surprised really considering Mila who often takes him there as well as other office workers. Most of the office workers did the same thing you did when you first saw me earlier. They didn’t recognize me and I was careful to avoid them. Victor, though, has a knack for recognizing people and found me out.”

“Naturally, it would be bad publicity for Victor to have an intern that worked near him often that also worked at Diamonds, so he had to let me go from the internship,” She sipped her coffee while taking a moment to breathe, “I have no ill feelings to him of course, in fact, him and I have become friends. He didn’t leave me by myself once he let me go but secured me a job a business firm that is contracted with Nikiforov Corp and transferred me there. In turn, the direct connections I had to Victor were severed. When I was harsh to him about wasting time, I said that for appearances.”

He took a moment to process the information, “Then why do you still work at Diamonds if you have a secured job?”

“Everyone has their own hobbies and mine just happens to get me paid,” She chuckled, “I’m assuming why the internships are now paid is because of me to prevent similar incidents.”

Yuuri found Leonie actually rather likable despite what happened yesterday. Leonie was the one that mainly talked while he listened. She reminded him a lot of two people: Chris and Mila. There was a constant sultry air around her like he remembered Chris, but there was a bubbly and excitable personality that Mila had mixed in. The two personality traits were familiar to him and it was easy for him to grow accustomed to it.

Leonie also seemed to like him as she would be relatively at ease while talking to him. Now though, she was silent as she thought. Her cheeks were flushed pink from the cold and she nibbled her lip in thought as she ran out of coffee to drink. When she appeared to get her thoughts in order, she spoke.

“When did you begin working for Victor?”

Yuuri raised his eyebrows and pushed up his glasses. How’d she know he worked for Victor? “About a month ago, why?”

Leonie hummed, “Victor stopped coming to Diamonds about a month ago with Mila. I was wondering why.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

She seemed to know the answer but withheld it. She gazed at him silently before she said, “Don’t worry about it. Only worry about what is going on now. I am sure you will probably find out later.”

With one glance at her watch, she clicked her tongue and stood while tossing some money and a piece of paper on the counter after scribbling on it, “I’ve got to go, but feel free to contact me. It was great talking with you, Yuuri.”

And with that, she left him behind only to stare at her retreating form in bewilderment.

* * *

 

The next day rolled around and Yuuri found himself back into his usual routine. The moment Victor came into the office from the elevator with Makkachin, he retreated back into his office. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he fiddled with paperwork and jumped with the squeak when he heard a sudden knock on the door despite it being open. He turned his head and saw Victor leaning against the door frame. Yuuri opened his mouth and spoke quickly, but Victor spoke at the same time

“I’m sorry you had to help me, but thank you for doing so.”

“I’m sorry Mila and your friends put you in that position.”

They both stared at each other for a moment. Their sentences had become a jumbled mess together, but the message still went across. Victor let out a huff of laughter before they both began chortling. The CEO grinned before speaking.

“You seem better. I’m glad.”

Yuuri was soon invited back to Victor’s desk. He brought over his laptop and paperwork he needed to complete in the meantime. The pair sat in a peaceful silence as they worked, the sound of the keys of their laptop the only thing making noise. Yuuri listened to Victor’s voice as he spoke on the phone, its tone authoritative, yet calm and soothing to him.

Lunch came around and Victor left for a conference with some officials on his own. Yuuri ate lunch in his office and in between bites he would type onto his computer. This paperwork was giving him a particular headache as it needed to be sent over for review to about 7 other departments, so he had to make sure the report did not miss anything. He clicked sent with a sigh of relief.

“-uuri?”

He was so absorbed in his paperwork he failed to notice who was standing at his door. Victor had his head tilted, but he seemed to understand why Yuuri hadn’t responded the first time.

“Yes, Victor?”

The CEO shook his head as his eyes blinked as if he just remembered why he was here, “I have a busy ceremony later today.”

“Oh,” Yuuri said as he reached for his notepad, “Should I take care of your work?”

Victor stared at him for a few seconds before he let out a light laugh, “I’d like for you to come with me,” When Yuuri said nothing he quickly added, “If you’d like to join me, that is.”

Chestnut brown eyes started at him for a moment and responded with a confused tone, “Me?”

“Yes, you.”

“Are you sure you want me to go with you?”

Victor smiled a little, “Of course, there’s no one else I’d rather take.”

“Then I can’t possibly refuse.”

Yuuri hasn’t seen the man in front of his grin as large as he did until now, “Great, although you will need a tux. I do believe I have one that no longer fits me in my apartment so you can come with me in a couple of hours to retrieve it.”

Him going to Victor’s apartment? Nothing would happen, of course, he knew that, but for some reason it made him flush. He said nothing in response except for a nod of his head. The CEO grinned again before retreating to his desk.

The hours passed by faster than he could believe. He had just closed his laptop when Victor appeared at his doorframe. He adjusted his glasses before taking a quick stretch. Yuuri stood and followed his boss to the elevator. His ears preformed the usual pop as he made his way down to the lobby. When he walked to the door, a hand grabbed his arm.

Yurio stared at him with narrowed eyes, “Are you going to the ceremony with Victor?”

“Yes.”

The blond huffed, “Listen, Victor needs parental supervision. Don’t let him drink too much. You’ll regret it if you do.”

When Yuuri nodded his head, the hand holding his arm let go and he was free to follow Victor once more. Victor soon led him to a black luxury car and gestured for him to get inside. Makkachin jumped in the back and soon stuck his head in between the seat to lick both of their ears. Yuuri giggled with a smile as he rubbed the poodle’s head.

Victor was chatty in the car. He did not really ask any questions, but instead was just talking about things related to himself and how the conference was. It was nice to listen to him talk as he gazed out the window. His eyes stared at the water of the ocean as they drove over the bridge. The sun shined on the water in the most beautiful way and the clear ocean water reminded him of something.

His brows furrowed in thought as he tried to place it. The colors of this ocean were related to something he had seen before. It bothered him that he couldn’t figure it out right away because after all, how could one forget something that had such a beautiful color? When he glanced over at Victor, it all came into place.

Victor’s eyes shined like the ocean just outside the car's window. He always thought they were a rich sky blue, but now that he compared them to this ocean, they matched the color perfectly. He was use to viewing the ocean back home in Hasetsu, but this water here was more clear and very blue unlike anything he had seen from home.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” Victor asked as he took a moment to glance away from away from the road.

He flushed deeply before shaking his head. He didn’t realize he was starting that long and how unsubtle he was being about it. The CEO only shrugged as he resumed what he was talking about as his gaze directed back on the road. Yuuri sighed.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

 

From outwards appearances, the apartment was relatively quaint. The modern architectural building was not nearly as tall Nikiforov Tower, but it was still an impressive height. The cars in the lot obviously indicated that the residents in this apartment had a substantial amount of money. Since he obviously had no idea where to go, he followed Victor to the elevator and watched him click the top floor.

Figures, Yuuri thought with a joking roll of the eyes. When the elevator door opened, however, his jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

The apartment was more spacious than anything he’d ever witness before for an apartment. The living area was probably as big as Yuuri's entire grungy apartment. The floors were a polished marble much like Victor’s office back at Nikiforov tower. There was a fair amount of lighting from natural light to lamps and lightbulbs scattered throughout the apartment. The furniture was smoky grey with lamps on either side and the kitchen had polished white granite countertops and the latest appliances.

There was an emptiness though about the apartment that he couldn't quite place. It seemed too new although it was obvious the Victor had lived here for quite some time. Its picturesque appearance made it seem lonely in a way as if the dazzling appearance were to make up for the lack of inhabitants.

The room was warm so he shrugged off his coat at the door and hung it on the rack. Victor did the same before gesturing to follow him to the room on the left of the hallway. His bedroom was just like the living room with smoky grey furniture with lights above the bed. That was all he had to survey until he was pulled to the direction of the closet.

The walk in closet neatly organized the clothing within it. Victor walked to the far corner of the closet and studied it for a moment before pulling out two garment bags. He handed one to Yuuri and pushed him towards the bathroom.

“I’ll change in the other bathroom, you can change in this one. Let’s see if it fits.”

He closed the bathroom behind him and opened the garment bag. The tuxedo inside was surprisingly well taken care of: no dust, no holes, and no stains. It looked as if it was worn once and it was still crisp at the creases. The black fabric was still a rich dark color and not faded from sunlight. The white tuxedo shirt was still bright and unsullied.

He buttoned up the shirt and tucked them into the pants. The waist of the pants fit well but it hung a little low on his hips which nothing a belt couldn’t fix. He tied on the bow tie and cummerbund before slipping on the jacket. The jacket was a lot like the shirt that was almost a perfect fit beside there being a little more shoulder room. He imagined it was designed to fit Victor much like his new suits did so it wasn’t a surprise to him that it didn’t fit on his own body in such a way.

He hung his original clothes in the garment bag before walking back out to Victor’s room to find the man waiting in front of the mirror adjusting his cuffs. He wore a tuxedo much like the one Yuuri wore and it was smartly cut. Blue eyes glanced away from the mirror before walking over to where Yuuri was.

Yuuri inhaled a quick breath as he found himself in a similar position like before. Victor stared down at him and his eyes scanned each part of the tuxedo. He soon nodded before he hummed and grabbed Yuuri’s wrist with a thoughtful look on his face. He brought him to the bathroom and left for a moment before soon returning with a stool. Victor instructed him to sit.

“Let me fix your hair. I have something in mind that will look great. May I?” Victor said as he reached for Yuuri’s glasses that were perched on his nose.

He allowed for his glasses to be removed and squinted at the change of clarity. He blinked a couple of times before growing use to the blurriness. He could see Victor’s form in the mirror standing behind him before he felt Victor’s fingers in his hair. The light scratch of fingernails against his scalp sent a shiver down his spine and caused him to let out a silent sigh as he shut his eyes.

The fingers woven in his hair stopped briefly before resuming. He felt a comb pull his hair back and brush it before he heard the comb being placed down on the countertop. His muscles relaxed and in his mind, he wished he could have hundreds of these done. He heard the snap of a bottle cap open and then felt the fingers weave their way back in his hair, this time a little wet. The liquid held his hair back and made his hair feel a little heavier due to the product. When the fingers were removed from his hair, he blinked his eyes open.

Although blurry, he could see that his hair was pushed back. This hairstyle wasn’t new to him, but he never normally wore his hair like this even though many people complimented him when he wore it in such a way. He could make out Victor’s smile.

“Can you see fine without your glasses?”

“It’s just a little blurry, it’s not too terrible.”

“Great, leave them off for the ceremony. You look great without them. Not that you didn’t look great before.”

Yuuri didn’t have to look in the mirror to know he flushed red from the tips of his ears to the back of his neck. He laughed awkwardly as he scratched the back of his neck before standing. They had a ceremony to get to after all.

* * *

 

The ride to the ceremony was short from the apartment. It was at a swanky restaurant that was overrun with high-class individuals all dressed in tuxedos for the men and the women were either dressed in suits or dresses. They all poured into the doors to the main hall and on the way, there were people that stopped to speak to Victor. They ignored Yuuri though and pushed in front of him at the door way.

He stumbled back and stopped as people whisked away Victor. He accidentally ran into the people behind him. A rough hand moved him out of the way and spoke harshly to him to get out of the way. He stumbled in between the wave of people before another set of hands moved him out of the way and a pair of eyes glared down at him that belonged to an older gentleman.

“Who are you here with, boy?” He asked impatiently.

“Mr. Nikiforov,” He replied nervously.

The hands released him, “Mr. Nikiforov? Well, don’t embarrass him. His image is far more important to be tainted by your silly little mistakes.”

Yuuri nodded vigorously and the older gentleman pursued his lips before stalking off. At first, he thought the man was Mr. Yakov before he realized it was another member of the board for Nikiforov Corp. A couple seconds later, Yakov and Yurio passed by him with a glance in his direction. He found himself alone without anyone he knew and panic arose in his chest.

He nervously walked inside the room which was a ginormous ballroom that contained an equally ginormous crowd of people. His eyes scanned for Victor, but with everyone the other men in the room dressed in tuxedos, he had to look for platinum hair. Chestnut brown eyes saw not a single head of platinum hair and the panic settled deeper in his chest. Normally when he found himself by his self, he became more focused on champagne. However, since he made a silent promise to not drink tonight, he stayed away from it.

No man or woman approached him to talk to him and Yuuri’s palms began to sweat as he tried to figure out what to do. The people around him seemed to know he was not important enough to be approached and therefore avoided him. Even if no one approached him, he felt as if they were watching him to see if he would mess up in some form. He clenched his palms which were now shaking.

* * *

 

Victor glanced around after separating himself from the rather annoying group of people trying to associate with him for business profit. The entire time as he was whisked away from Yuuri, he thought of his personal assistant and tried to get back to him. He felt guilty for leaving him behind and now it was time to get back to him. If only he could find where he was exactly.

He couldn’t ask any of the other patrons as they never met Yuuri before. He soon found Mila drinking champagne while speaking with Yurio and headed over to their direction. Mila was pleased to see him and as per usual, Yurio greeted him in his “friendliest” way with a look of irritation.

“Where’s your little sidekick?” Yurio asked.

“I was hoping you could tell me that. Have you seen him?”

Mila tilted her head, “I did see him go to the bathroom. I was going to invite him over after he came out, but it’s been 20 minutes and he is still in there.”

Victor hummed, “I’ll go check on him.”

He made his way over to the bathroom while waving off anyone who tried to talk to him. He pushed open the door and found no one standing by. The bathroom was seemingly empty except for the stall that was shut. Without much care and sure that it was Yuuri in there, he knocked.

“Yuuri? Are you okay?”

Victor heard a quick intake of breath and smiled a little as it was Yuuri. There was a silence that followed after and he waited patiently for a long while. There was a shuttering breath before a timid voice broke through.

“I’m alright. You can go back.”

“Why do I feel like that’s a lie?” Silence again, “What’s the matter?”

“I…” Yuuri’s voice began, “I don’t want to embarrass you.”

Now that he didn’t expect, “What?”

“I don’t want to embarrass you. I don’t want to ruin the image that you have if I make a bunch of mistakes. I don’t want to be that personal assistant that makes you look bad.”

“There is nothing you could do that would embarrass me. Trust me, I’ve embarrassed myself before. There’s a reason why Yurio stopped you and told you that.”

There was a little laugh, “Really?”

“Yep, I ended up getting drunk and thought the fountain was a swimming pool.”

The laugh that Victor heard was music to his ears and the click of the lock unlocking almost made him sigh with relief. Yuuri peeked his head out before stepping out in front of him. He still appeared nervous and his eyes were a bit red, but Victor was glad he was at least out.

“Do you still think you can come out there and have a good time?”

Yuuri scratched the back of his neck, “I don’t know.”

“You know I should thank you,” Victor began and Yuuri snapped his head up with a puzzled expression at the sudden change of topic, “This ceremony is because of you. What you did at the dinner last time has done a great deal for me and I cannot thank you enough. We are celebrating the success _you_ caused, so don’t worry about embarrassing me.”

Yuuri stared at him as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Victor placed his pale hands on his shoulders and held a tender grip. He stared deep into chestnut brown eyes before speaking honestly.

“And I’m not asking you to be here as my personal assistant. I’m asking you to be here as my friend.”

Yuuri’s eyes grew impossibly wide before a pinkish tint spread across pale cheeks. Victor noted that he blushed quite a lot. The shade in which he turned was rather cute, the CEO couldn’t deny that. He grabbed Yuuri’s wrist with a smile and led him back out towards the ballroom.

* * *

 

Victor checked his watched as he led Yuuri over to where Mila stood. With a frown on his face, he faced him and spoke with a voice tinged with regret.

“I’ll be right back, I swear. I have a meeting with someone that I can’t miss.”

With that, Yuuri was left in the care of Mila. The red headed woman practically dove over to him and clung to his arm as she immediately began spilling details about certain clientele attending the party. Mainly it was the gossip of couples at the party, some secrets that were overheard, etc. All of it was interesting to Yuuri and even somewhat amusing until he followed Mila’s finger in the direction of a man she was pointing to, but that man also happened to be next to Victor.

While he listened to Mila talk, the small orchestra off to the side had begun playing music for the members to dance elegantly to. It felt like he had been reversed back in time as it had a king’s ballroom feel to it. However, in the line of sight that he followed, he caught onto Victor and his stomach felt like it had a pit in it that grew heavier and heavier with each passing moment.

Victor glided across the dance floor with a woman in his arms. The woman, Yuuri recognized, was Emil Nekola’s sister dressed fabulously in a floor length white dress that clung to her figure. The pair moved as one across the dance floor, seemingly enraptured in conversation. There were occasions in which Victor spoke and she laughed and vice versa. The CEO moved confidently as he guided her and she followed his every movement obediently.

Yuuri didn’t even register his feet moving or Mila’s voice growing distant. He didn’t register weaving through the crowd nor bumping into dancing couples. His mind blanked and he only realized where he was until Victor stopped dancing and looked straight at him. His hand was still clasped to hers and chestnut brown eyes couldn’t help but stare at it.

Victor, seeing nothing wrong, only grinned at him before he dropped the hand he was holding. “I didn’t know you liked to dance, Yuuri.”

Yuuri only stared at him like he didn’t even comprehend what was being said to him. He blinked a couple times before heading to retreat back to Mila. His feet led him here without purpose and his mouth was unable to form any words so he wanted to go back to where he wouldn’t have to talk. He suddenly wasn’t in the mood for talking anyway.

Victor, on the other hand, reached forward and grabbed Yuuri’s wrist to draw him forward. He waved to Emil’s sister as she departed before turning her attention back to the man in front of him. Victor pulled him into the center of the dance floor just as the song had changed to a waltz.

“In order to dance properly to this type of music, you need a partner,” Yuuri shook his head and went to slip his wrist out of the CEO’s grasp and as if seeing the hesitation on his face, Victor soothed him, “Don’t worry, it’s normal for friends to dance together.”

“But everyone else sees you as the boss and me as the personal assistant. Is that normal for them to dance together?”

Victor only said one phrase that was so carefree, “Who cares? Dance with me.”

Victor’s hand released Yuuri’s wrist and slipped to clasp his hand. The CEO’s hand was colder than Yuuri’s slightly sweaty one, but he didn’t seem to mind. The other hand snaked its way onto his waist and with one confident and sturdy movement, he pulled Yuuri closer to the point their chests were nearly touching. The personal assistant’s heart was beating hard and fast to the point he felt it in his fingertips and he thought Victor might feel it, but if he did, he gave no indication.

“Victor, I don’t know how to dance like this.”

It was true. Victor was the one leading and he couldn’t follow the CEO’s assured movements without stumbling or having to look at his feet. Victor and the other members in the room were taught these dances at a young age which gave them an advantage he didn’t have. Immediately Victor slowed down and began to instruct him on what to do.

Slowly, Victor began pulling him in a direction and encouraged him to follow as he said to just think of the time they skated together. Yuuri did his best not to gaze down at his feet as he danced and tried to follow Victor’s lead.  Being able to move on the ice was one thing and even the couple of parties he attended was much different than a formal setting. Their moves were orderly, precise, and they had to be in time with each other or the risked stepping on each other’s feet as they faced one another.

His moves were clumsy compared to Victor’s waltz. There were moments he stumbled over the CEO’s dress shoes, but every time he would nearly trip, strong arms caught him. Yuuri would hear a chuckle escape pale pink lips every time he would stumble. He couldn’t help but laugh a little too at his mistakes because he knew those arms would stabilize him each time he would fall. Even when he might step on Victor’s toes, the man in front of him would never complain.

They soon found a rhythm together. They moved a little bit slower than the rest of the couples, but it was progress on Yuuri’s part. He actually found that he was enjoying himself thoroughly and could help but grin every time he would look at the CEO in front of him. They didn’t talk, only danced in a blissful silence.

The song was coming to a close, but he wished it wouldn’t. The feeling in his heart begged to stay there with Victor for just a few moments longer. The feeling was warm, pleasant, and filled him with an indescribable _something_ that made him feel like he wasn’t lonely anymore. When the song ended and Victor praised him, the smile that appeared on his face came with ease.

Love, to him, is something that creeps up on you. It hits you unexpectedly without warning and without grace. It takes many hearts at unexpected times and Yuuri felt that his was on the way to becoming one of the taken. Once it happened, there was nothing you could do about it except pray. He knew he had begun to fall at this moment and he didn’t care how wrong it was for him to even though it was his CEO.

He just continued to beam with a smile brighter than the sun.

* * *

 

Off to the side, Mila and Yurio stood watching the pair dance in the final moments of the song. Victor was obviously the one leading and Yuuri appeared to have no qualms about it as he tried to follow his lead. There were moments where there would be a slight fault, but when it would happen, there was no look of irritation on either of their faces. Instead, they would laugh as they continued. Yurio’s expression portrayed his distaste as he stuck his tongue out in displeasure.

 “That’s so gross,” He stated, gesturing to how sickly happy the two of the men looked at they danced the final moments together.

There was a soft smile that tugged on her lips as she sipped the champagne from the glass she held in her hand, “You know, I don’t think I’ve seen Victor that happy in a long time.”

The seriousness that grasped her tone made Yurio glance at her, but she was still looking at Victor and Yuuri. His bright green eyes trailed back over to them and found them beaming at each other as the song was over. They had stopped moving, but they were still in position as if they were dancing. Yurio crossed his arms and sighed as he spoke with a tone nearly as serious as Mila’s.

“I think you’re right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again I am so sorry this took so long to update. I will try to get the next chapter out soon as long as my laptop doesn't go into a coma again. I have a bunch of college things happening so the next time I update will probably be from my dorm room!
> 
> Thank you all so much for your support, I love all of you, you guys are truly the best! 
> 
> -Eden


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